Unlikely Bond
by purplexangel
Summary: Have you ever spent so much time around someone, that you don't even realize you're getting closer then you ever thought you would? Welcome to Gaige's life. The young vault hunter takes up a job to help kill off Handsome Jack, only to be paired up with Krieg. While less then thrilled at first, they don't realize just how much things can change over time.
1. Chapter 1

|NOTES: This is my first fic I'm writing, so I apologize about any typos and grammar errors ^^; This is going to be loosely based off Borderlands 2, but I've made some changes of course. The biggest change is I've made Gaige 20, simply for my preference over her being 18. My roommate and I have been playing borderlands 2 for quite some time now as Gaige and Krieg and some things that happen will be based off our stupid little laughs and headcanons. Feel free to leave comments and such and I hope y'all enjoy!|

"I SAID I was told to come here! Now if you don't let me in, i'm going to personally strangle you with my bare hands!" Gaige and the guards of Sanctuary had been arguing back and forth for the past at least fifteen minutes, and she was beginning to become irritated. A light tinge of regret tugged at the back of her mind. Maybe it wasn't a good idea for her to answer that ad after all. A few days ago, while the small redhead was looking for a new job that interested her, a 'vault hunter search' had came across her Echo, and even though she had finally managed to settle into a home, she answered it. The payout sounded promising as well as the guns and not to mention the bragging rights to being able to say she killed off Handsome Jack. So she responded to the woman named Tannis and set out the next morning, armed and ready. However , it was already off to a rough start and over the span of another five minutes, Gaige was screaming at both guards and about to start wrestling with one, before a woman with pixie cut black hair appeared at the top of the watch tower. "Let her in. She's the other vault hunter I told you about." Then, just as quickly as she had appeared, she was gone. Grumbling angrily, Gaige walked into the now open gates as the guards apologized.

Gaige huffed as she trudged along the streets of Sanctuary. In her mecha hand loosely hung a large backpack filled with a few things, but mostly ammo and grenades, in her flesh one, her echo. She could feel people staring at her as she walked, but it didn't bother her much. The young girl had come to accept the fact that seeing a twenty year old girl who stood no more than 5'3" with a sniper rifle that almost rivaled her height and a rocket launcher that almost rivaled her weight could be a strange sight. She just thought it made her look tough. Having been on her own for the past two years, the weight of her weaponry had become almost a part of her and bored no significant barrier. Her sneaker clad feet drug along the ground as she mouthed the Echo coordinates silently to herself. To say it had been a long journey would be an understatement. From having to leave home and hunt down the nearest fast travel, which was a good several miles away, to almost killing off the guards before they realized who she was and allowed her into Sanctuary, she had to admit she just wanted to rest.

"Here are the coordinates to your temporary living arrangements. There, you will find your partner for this fight as well as a home prepared to the best of our abilities. I'll more then likely be running a little late, so let yourself in and make yourself at home. I'll be there shortly after the guards alert me of your arrival to brief you on what you're signing up for." Tannis' message replayed on Gaige's Echo as she stopped at the metal door to her new home. Tucking the small device into the side pouch of her backpack, she turned the doorknob and took half a step in.

The house wasn't anything fancy, but it was decent. A couch sat in the middle of the living room, a bookshelf half filled with books and decor as well as a radio on a coffee table joining it. Off to the left was a kitchen separated by a bar and straight ahead was a hall with what looked like three doors. Shrugging, she took a couple more steps in only to be greeted by a rather large and muscular hand grabbing bruisingly at her throat. The suddenness didn't give her any time to react, her ammo thudding to the ground as her feet left the floor. With a grunt, Gaige's flesh hand grabbed for her Torgue pistol as her mecha one grabbed roughly at her attacker's wrist, her back now pressed into the wall. "Let me go!" She managed to choke out around her gasps for air. Raising the gun, she took a look at her attacker. A psycho mask was strapped firmly to his face, only revealing a shaved head and single brown eye behind it. His arms were rather large and muscular, covered with straps and crude bandages. Orange pants hung low on his hips as he growled something about blood and was that an eight pack? Was that even possible? Not that that debate was an important matter at the time. Her cold, mechanical fingers dug harder into his skin, though it didn't seem to phase him in the slightest, and with almost a foot advantage over her, Gaige could tell she wasn't exactly in the favorable position here. How the hell did a psycho make it in here? Just as she was about to pull the trigger, Tannis stepped into the home, arms crossed.

"I swear, all you vault hunters are the fucking same. Can't leave you alone for five minutes before you're trying to kill each other. That's your partner, now I recommend you two kiss and make up and cut your shit out or else we're all good as dead." The psycho, who she could only assume was her wonderful new partner, dropped her without warning. As air flooded her lungs, Gaige fell flat on her bottom, her flesh hand moving to rub the bruising skin around her neck. "What do you mean partner? He's a fucking psycho, that's not exactly partner material." The redhead immediately began to argue as the man went to perch himself on the armrest of the couch. "Gaige, he's different. There's more to him than meets the eye. He saved Maya and has only been help ever since. You just have to trust him." Tannis tried to explain, but her words fell on deaf ears. "Trust? I trust him about as far as I can throw him!"

"This conversation is over, Gaige. Either you accept working with him, or leave and i'll find someone else." Gaige fell silent and she simply stared at the other woman. "Now this is where you two will be staying while in town. Rest tonight and be prepared to begin your journey tomorrow. This isn't going to be easy and I can't promise that you, or any of us for that matter, will come out alive and whole. This is what you're signing up for. Both of you understand this and accept this. If you do not, then I expect you to leave now." She paused and when neither of them left, she nodded. "Good. Now get to know each other, we need you two to get along as well as possible or else this whole effort is a waist. Learn to play nice." Gaige finally stood, lifting up her bag with ease. "What's his name? I can't talk to him if I don't know that." Tannis let out a soft laugh. "That's where your bonding begins. He's not a man of many words, but get him to tell you that and it won't be a bad time spent together. Sort of at least. I'll be here tomorrow morning around seven to introduce you to the others and we'll go from there. The kitchen is fully stocked for you two. Bathroom is down the hall, along with the bedrooms. Get a good night's rest. It might be the last good one you get for a while." With that said, she turned on her heel and began to walk out only to pause and turn back to the younger girl. "Gaige, by the way, I better not see any Deathtrap accidents with him. Make sure he knows he isn't hostile." Gaige clenched her jaw. "As long as he doesn't hurt me, there won't be any problems." Tannis simply gave her a stern look before finally leaving. Well wasn't this just great? Stuck on a life or death mission with an unnamed psycho as a partner and a leader with no people skills. This already had a promising start.

Glaring over at her partner, Gaige drug her ammo bag over to the nearest room before kicking the door open with a nudge of her foot. It was a good sized room, a large bed in the center. Setting her bag down on the bed, Gaige began to remove her weapons from her back. Gently, she sat her entire collection down, only keeping a pistol at her hip. This place was supposed to be safe, a pistol should've been more than enough. Besides, she always had Death Trap too. With a sigh, she turned to head back to the living room. Tannis was right and she had to at least try to get along with him or else she was good as dead out there against Hyperion and Jack. "Hey there, buddy. Name's Gaige and you arrrreeeee-?" She offered him her flesh hand for a shake, but he simply responded with staring at her. It was a few more moments of silence before she finally pulled her hand back. "Well, talkative aren't we?" Her voice was sarcastically perky as she moved to sit on the opposite end of the couch. She waited patiently for him to speak up, but he never did. Sighing, her fingers began to mess with one of her pigtails. "Where you from? I'm from Eden-5. Kind of. I don't live there anymore, I live alone now in the middle of nowhere ish." By answering her own question, she hoped it would prompt him to speak up, but a grunt was his only response. This was going to be harder than she thought.

After an hour or so of questions and silence, the redhead finally gave up. It was pointless to try and get more than a few grunts as response and the occasional comment that made no sense whatsoever and was related to gore in some fashion. Fully frustrated, she kicked up from the couch, smoothing out her skirt. "As much as I LOVED that conversation, I'm going out for some fresh air." When there was a no longer surprising silence following her words, she simply walked outside. The sun was slowly beginning to sink out of sight, casting a pink and yellow glow around the buildings. Walking further into the town, she looked around at all the buildings. They looked alike for the most part, pieced together homes for the residents that managed to make it in. However, one building stood out among the others. It had double doors and a large neon sign attached to the wall that read 'Moxxi's'. Loud music blared through the open doors and she had to admit, she was curious.

Wandering inside, she looked around. There were several tables inside, some empty, others with occupants. A bar took up the back wall, a woman standing behind it, preoccupied with wiping down some glasses. She wore a lot of makeup and showed a bit too much cleavage, but she somehow made it work. The woman looked up and tilted her head. "Welcome to Moxxi's, I'm Moxxi. I haven't seen you around here before, sugar. You must be one of the vault hunters." Somehow every word Moxxi spoke was sultry and seductive. Arching a brow, Gaige made her way up to the bar. "You would be correct. Name's Gaige." She hoisted herself onto a barstool, her feet dangling just a few inches off the ground. "Pleasure to meet you." She began to prepare some mystery drink. "You look a bit young to be a vault hunter." If she had a dollar for every time she heard that. "My age doesn't mean I'm not just as good as the others. I've held my own for this long and I can promise my kill count is close to, if not surpassing the others." Moxxi let out a soft chuckle, placing the drink in front of the younger girl. "I never said that you weren't as good as the others. Just making an observation. It's interesting to see someone your age be as skilled as you are." Looking inside the glass as Moxxi spoke, Gaige took a small drink. "It's fun, what can I say?"

"I can only imagine how your life is, kid. Out there on your own with a killer robot attached to your hip." Gaige laughed softly. "It's a living. I do work for hire. Don't care who or what, just as long as the payout is good. I've had my fair share of close calls, but nothing too bad." Swishing around the drink in the glass, Gaige gave a nonchalant shrug. "But that's all about to change. Now I'm in a battle against Hyperion and Handsome Jack and my close calls might be just enough to end it all. Whether it be me or him, who knows.." Her words trailed off as she took another drink. She didn't want to think of that. Not right now. Moxxi simply pressed her lips together, feeling sympathy for the younger girl. Being chased off from home as a fugitive at eighteen and having to make it on your own ever since? That wasn't much of a life. "Well, If you ever need anything, I'm here for you." Looking up, the two exchanged a smile. "Including drinks. Don't worry about paying here." Gaige picked up her glass and hopped off the barstool. "That means a lot. Thanks, Moxxi." With that said, she trudged to a table near the largest window, watching the outside world. It was so calm, but she knew it was just the calm before the storm to come. A hurricane of a storm.

While lost in her thoughts someone rudely bumped into her, nearly sending the redhead to the ground as her drink did. "Hey!" She shouted angrily, turning to see a rather drunken man plopping down beside her. "Hi there to you too, gorgeous." He smiled. "You made me spill my drink and you smell like a beer bottle." She scooted her stool away from him. "Now that's no way to talk to someone who's flirting." He chastised her like a child and her anger began to boil. "Well I'm not interested." Moxxi looked up from the bar, watching the two interact. "Well I am, kitten." He purred. That was it. Reaching for her gun, it was a shock when she felt nothing there. "Looking for this?" He smirked, holding up the pistol. He must've taken it when he bumped into her. "You piece of shit. I'm going to kill you!" She balled her hand into a fist, but before she could even swing, the gun was pressed to her chest. "Nah. I think I have the upper hand here." Gaige froze. While she was fast and her mechanical arm could do some good damage, she knew a bullet was faster and much more deadly.

"Good girl. Now how about we go to my place?" Gaige clenched her jaw tightly "I'd much sooner kill myself then go anywhere with you." Her eyes scanned over to Moxxi, hoping for some kind of help, only to find her simply wiping the bar down as she watched. Great, so much for back up. Right as she was about to take her chances and start swinging at the older man, he was suddenly lifted out his seat by the back of his collar. "LEAVE GIRL ALONE!" Gaige's partner was standing behind the unsuspecting man, easily holding him at least half a foot off the floor. The man was caught off guard, letting Gaige's pistol clatter to the floor. "Look man, I wasn't looking for trouble- I- I just wa-" Before he could finish, the large Psycho screamed once about blood before very easily tossing him out the nearby window, causing glass to come raining down both inside and out. Gaige simply sat in her stool, watching as the scene unfolded. "Dude, that was awesome! Thanks-" she paused realizing she still didn't know his name. "Krieg." His name left his lips as they looked at each other. "Krieg. Thanks, Krieg. You really saved me there. I owe you one, big guy." Without thinking, she jumped up and wrapped her arms around the large man. He tensed up immediately under her touch and began to try and pry her arms away.

Sensing just how awkward and uncomfortable it all was, Gaige quickly let him go. Clearing her throat, the redhead glanced at her forgotten glass on the ground. "Yea, um I'm gonna go grab another drink. Want one?" When there was no response outside a blank stare, she took that as a no and quickly made her way up to the bar. "Thanks for the help." Gaige's words dripped with sarcasm as she hopped up onto a barstool. Moxxi let out a sultry chuckle, washing a couple glasses before setting a new one aside. "I knew you would be fine, sugar. I was going to intervene, but I saw big guy there outside the window and knew he would take care of it." Grabbing a couple bottles of liquor, she began to mix the ingredients expertly in the glass. Tracing the patterns of the wood with her cold, metal fingers, the younger girl propped her chin up in the palm of her much warmer, flesh one. Sensing the other girl falling victim to her thoughts, Moxxi spoke. "Krieg, huh? I didn't know he was your partner for all this. Interesting choice of you ask me." Gaige sighed. "I wish they would've told me. I can't believe they chose a Psycho to join me. Why couldn't they have chose Axton or Maya? Someone we know we can trust."

"Sweetheart, let me let you in on a little secret. Krieg is a great guy and deserves as much of a chance as you do. He's just misunderstood. An underdog, much like yourself. People simply look at the two of you, whether it be your age or size or the fact of what he is, and count you out before you're even in. They chose you two, because individually you are both very strong and powerful people. Together, imagine what you can do. Sure, he has his quirks, but you do too. We all do." Taking several small sips, Gaige looked up at her. "I guess you're right. I'm just- I don't know. I'm- I guess nervous? I've never been involved in something this big." Moxxi let out a soft laugh. "It's understandable to be nervous, but don't let it knock you out before you're even in. Just remember that." Before anything else could be said, krieg interrupted with a loud shout about bathing in blood before smashing a barstool against a wall. Then, as if nothing happened, he sat on another. Cringing, Gaige hopped off her seat. "Guess I should join him."

Drink in hand, the small girl took a seat across from the larger man, pulling her echo to her. "Girl's gun." Krieg picked up the once forgotten pistol from the floor, looking it over. Almost curiously, his fingers brushed over the large G engraved crudely in the paint. "Oh, yes. That's mine. Thanks." She carefully took it from him, reholstering it to her hip. Krieg watched her movements, but didn't say anything else. Accepting his silence, she knew she would probably be the one to do the most talking during their time together, not that she really minded. Going through the echonet, Gaige sipped at her drink throughout the evening, not quite realizing the time as it passed. Eleven thirty was slowly creeping up when Krieg stood up abruptly. "Home." It wasn't until she heard him speak that she finally looked up and realized that the sun had finally disappeared and the moon hung high in the sky. "Yea. That's probably a good idea, big guy." Taking her empty glass up to the bar, she gave a nervous smile to Moxxi. "I guess we should probably turn in for the night. Long day ahead of us tomorrow. Might be the last good night's sleep we get for a while." The older woman smiled gently, taking the dirty glass. "It'll be okay, sugar. Try not to think about it. I'll see you in the morning, seven am sharp."

"Wait, you're coming too?" Gaige looked at her confused. "Yes, I am. Jack and I had a little history together. I know a lot about him as a person that no one else has ever seen. Tannis thinks that what I know will help us have at least a smidge of an advantage." The redhead nodded. "Makes sense. I'll see you in the morning." Running off to Krieg's side, she stayed close to him as they walked in silence to their temporary home. Once inside and the door locked, the Psycho simply said 'sleep' before disappearing in his own room, slamming the door shut. "Doubt I can…" Gaige mumbled to herself before going to her own room. Grabbing a shirt and some clean clothes from her backpack, the small girl went to take a long shower in hopes of helping calm her nerves. Besides, who knew when she would have the next chance to have this luxury?

Time passed both too quickly and too slowly for the mechromancer. Her body was restless and sleep evaded her. Inventory of her ammo, grenades and guns had already been done, a G engraved crudely into the side of each one. Updates and minor repairs were done on DT as well as her mecha arm. All that was left was to be briefed in the morning, but that was too far away. The time ticked by, midnight having already come and gone. Burying her face in her hands, Gaige sighed before pulling the large gray shirt closer to her. It was much too big for her small frame, the material hanging loosely around her, but it was all she had left of home. The day she left for Pandora from Eden-5, she had done it in a rush. With only the bare essentials packed, Gaige had managed to take a shirt from her dad, finding a slight comfort in it. It was all she had left of home now. Despite all the washes and time that occurred over the past two years, somehow the familiar scent of his cologne still clung to the thin material. Closing her eyes, Gaige let memories of her and her father, of a normal life and better times, flood her mind, and eventually help lull her to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

[Notes: I'm glad you guys have enjoyed my fic :) I'm going to try and update once a week or so, depending on muse and such. Hope you enjoy the second chapter!]

At first, Gaige slept restlessly, tossing and turning every so often until she finally fell into a deep, calm sleep. Unfortunately, it didn't last too long. After what felt like minutes, a loud banging came just outside her door. "Gaige! Get your ass out here, now!" Tannis' voice carried through the hall, yanking the girl from her sleep. Rubbing her eyes, she grabbed her echo to check the time. 7:15 flashed across the screen. "Fuck! I'll be out in a minute!" Rolling out of bed, she hopped around the room, somehow managing to get her clothes on before dashing out the room. Pulling her short hair into her pigtails, she was greeted by three and a half sets of disapproving eyes. "My bad!" She held up her hands in surrender before going to the kitchen to find food as Tannis began to speak.

"Now that you've decided to join us, we can start. You've already met myself and Moxxi-" she paused, gesturing to Moxxi who sat on the back of the couch. "-this is Mordecai." A rather tall man stood by the door, arms crossed. His skin was darkened and worn by the sun, long black hair pulled back and half hidden by a bandana. A large sniper rifle was strapped to his back and goggles rested on his forehead. Gaige gave him half a wave as she managed to find something to eat. "He's our hunter. He can get in and out of places before they even know he's there and is the best shot around." Gaige looked him over as he drank from a silver flask. "Bet I could give him a run for his money for that title."

"Not the time. Maybe later, but for now we are here for other reasons. I need you and Krieg to head out today." Grabbing her Echo, Tannis pulled up a map. Moving it around until she was able to zoom in on a small area, she angled it so the others could see. "Before we can move on officially, we need our leader back. We have reason to believe that he may be hiding in a place called Frostburn Canyon, hiding from Jack and his forces. This is where you two come in." Gaige gulped down some water before going to go look at the map. "And if he isn't there?" "We will think about that when we get there. You and Krieg need to get there. Unfortunately there isn't an activated fast travel in that area. Take the fast travel outside of sanctuary to the nearest one to that area. From there-" she paused, zooming in a bit more. "-there should be a catch a ride. Get one and follow the road. There should be a man named Roland somewhere in there, he's currently going under the name Firehawk. Not sure why, but that's not important. Once you find him, we need him brought back here."

Mordecai pushed away from the wall. "I've scouted out there. Lots of Spiderants and bandits out and about. Make sure you're armed and be careful." His voice was gravelly and low. Gaige nodded and glanced over at Krieg, who somewhat seemed to be listening. "Sounds easy enough. Fight our way in, find this guy Roland, and come back. I think we can do that." Krieg simply grunted in agreement. "We'll keep in contact through your echos. You two get ready and head out as soon as possible." Moxxi stood up, stretching ever so slightly. "Always stay alert out there. Especially in the new areas. Jack likes to play games and I wouldn't be surprised if he somehow had people out there keeping an eye out." Gaige nodded. "Ma'am, yes ma'am."

Once everyone was up and gone, Gaige had retreated back to her room. Today sounded rather simple, just a search and rescue. Holstering her sniper rifle to her back, Gaige opted for her pistol at her hip, and assault rifle on her lower back. Picking out the correct ammo from the bag, she loaded up with what she could carry and clipped a few grenades to her belt. Grabbing her echo off the unmade bed, she pulled up the specs on DT, making sure he was good to go before heading out to find Krieg.

Eyes still set on the screen, the petite redhead didn't notice that the much larger Psycho was walking past her door and ran right into what felt like a brick wall. With a low grunt, she stumbled backwards, her hand flying up in apology. "Sorry, sorry. So sorry." Her words blended together as she finally looked up. At least he wasn't mad she ran into him. Was he? With only his eye to go off of, she could only hope he wasn't. "Dude, you're built like a wall." Her words continued as if her mouth had decided to do its own thing. "What do you do? Like work out six hours a day? Or were you just born with those muscle?" Forgetting any sort of sense of boundaries, her flesh hand began to prod at his biceps and chest. A small giggle bubbled in her chest. "Hehe, small muscular Psycho baby." Without warning, he slapped her hand away with ease. "Sorry, sorry. Again….sorry." Well, their first actual job together and she was pretty sure he either hated her already or just thought she was some weirdo.

Biting her tongue, Gaige quickly set out behind Krieg to the gates of the town. Eyes seemed to follow them as they moved through the streets and she could only imagine how it looked. A short, awkward mechromancer and a giant Psycho as their only hope. That had to be reassuring. Keeping her attention to where they were walking, Gaige took notice that Krieg had only two weapons, and only one was a gun. A large buzz axe was strapped to his back and despite the wear on it, the blades still looked sharp as ever and she would never want to be on the business end. On his lower back, a shotgun was strapped down, Hyperion painted on it in large letters. How did he even have that? It was probably best not to ask. As the fast travel came into sight, she quickened her pace to make sure she arrived at it first. Somehow, even though she probably should, part of her didn't trust him to use that thing correctly.

Tapping the screen, a large map projected in front of her. Lightly pressing a metal finger to where Frostburn Canyon was, her mind began to work, figuring which fast travel would be closest. "Looks like we're going to Three Horns. That's going to be our best bet. From there, we can grab a ride and drive to Frostburn Canyon." Krieg simply grunted in response. "I'm going to take that as 'Okay, Gaige. Sounds great.' Any protests to that?" Hoping to get at least a light response from him for her sarcasm, she was greeted with the familiar silence. With an exaggerated sigh, she turned back to the Fast Travel. Tapping the screen with her flesh finger, the machine began to work. Krieg stepped in closer to her, crossing his arms over his chest as they were quickly taken to Three Horns.

Shaking off the feeling of the fast travel, Gaige spotted the catch a ride nearby. "Come on, big guy." She waited until Krieg began to walk before she quickly made her way to the large vehicle selection screen. Humming to herself, the redhead scrolled through all the paint options before opting for a purple vehicle. Pressing the finalize button, the vehicle quickly digistructed on one of the large platforms. "Perfect." Gaige chimed in a sing song tone before turning to the car.

Letting her fingers brush along the cold metal, she was about to climb into the driver's seat when she realized Krieg was already in it. "Um, I was going to drive." He simply stared at her. Stomping a foot to the ground, she glared at him. "Out. I'm driving." Her voice hardened when he refused to move. The Psycho let out a low chuckle, settling more into the seat. Kicking her foot at the side of the car, she wasn't above throwing a temper tantrum right then and there. "There is no way I am gonna let you drive!"

This went on at least another twenty minutes and Gaige wasn't quite sure how she lost when he didn't even argue back. Yet, without a single word from Krieg, the redhead sat up in the gunner seat in the end. Holding the handles to the gun, Gaige prepared herself for crazed and reckless driving, only to be surprised. Krieg was going a little fast, but not much faster then she would've had she been driving. "Not bad.." She hummed to herself, letting her grip lessen ever so slightly. For the most part, the drive was quiet, the mechromancer giving the Psycho directions of where to go, and taking out the occasional skag or bandit.

"Just keep following the road. We'll be there in no time." Gaige called down from her seat, their location on the map moving closer to their destination. She had to admit, she was pretty surprised at how smooth the drive was going. Maybe he wasn't that bad of a driver. Then, almost as if reading her mind, the car suddenly lurched as the engine revved. Normally, that wouldn't have bothered Gaige too much, but the fact they were currently going down a twisting mountain road, their speed made her rather uneasy. "Uh, Krieg? Not to criticize your driving or anything, but can you maybe, slow down?" With a low chuckle, he stepped on the gas further. Gaige tightened her grip, knuckles turning white. "Dude slow down!" The wind whipped around her, stinging her eyes as she struggled to breath.

The edge of the cliff was getting dangerously close and Gaige knew by now, the Psycho had absolutely no intention of stopping. Ducking down into the small bucket of the gunner seat, she held onto the sides as she screamed. "Stop, stop, STOP!" The car's engine revved once more before it flew over the edge. "BEEP, BEEP!" Krieg shouted in joy as the car became airborne. Shrieking out in sheer terror, Gaige did the only thing she could think of. Raising her mecha arm, Deathtrap quickly digistructed at the side of the car. Letting go of the sides of her seat, she leaped out of what was surely a death sentence, letting DTs cold, metal hands easily catch her and lower them to the ground slowly.

The car gave a metallic groan, but much to her surprise, it didn't completely shatter as it crashed to the ground. With a whine, it continued to lurch forward, Krieg laughing in joy as it smashed into the side of an ice covered mountain. Deathtrap carefully set the redhead down, her feet firmly planting themselves onto the snow. "What the actual fuck was that?!" She screeched as the large man climbed out the vehicle. "Fun." He grumbled the word, a smirk in his eyes. "No. That was not fun, that was fucking idiotic!" Krieg didn't seem the least bit phased, chuckling to himself as she went off of him.

"Gaige? Gaige, are you there?" Tannis voice interrupted her implosion. Pointing a very angry finger at Krieg, she grabbed her echo and turned her back to him. "Yea. I'm here." She sighed, tapping on the screen to pull up the map. "Okay, so is my Echo wrong or are you two already at Frostburn Canyon?" Gaige pinched the bridge of her nose. "No. We're here. Psycho man found us a shortcut that included driving us over the edge of a fucking cliff!" She screamed into the small device, still in distress over the whole thing. "Why the hell did you let him drive?!" Tannis didn't sound amused or sympathetic. "Well, I picked the car and he got into the driver seat before I could react and he just kinda wouldn't get out. I spent like twenty minutes trying to get him out and somehow, well he won that argument." She shrugged. "Hopefully you learned a lesson here. All that aside, Just follow the map and you'll find where you're going."

There was a hushed argument in the background and the echo could be heard being passed around. "Gaige, keep an eye out. Spiderants like to hide in the ground and will pop out when you don't expect it. There's several bandit camps on the way there, but nothing too bad." Mordecai's voice chimed in and Tannis could be heard in the background, demanding her echo back. "Got it. I'll let you know when we get there." Shoving the device into the pouch on her belt, Gaige started towards the entrance of the canyons. "Come on. Let's get this over with so I can try and get over the fact you almost killed us. Keep an eye out, Mordecai says there's sp-" Her words were cut off as several Spiderants burrowed up from the ground. "Those." Armed with her pistol, the redhead easily helped Krieg take out the Spiderants as they came. Once the small colony was killed off, they began their journey into the snow covered area.

Light snow dusting the ground turned into several inches, each of their steps leaving behind a trail. Gaige had abandoned arming herself, hugging her arms instead as she shivered. The light, occasional breeze stung at her skin and she was sure her feet were frozen solid. Frostburn didn't seem like it was too far away and she quickly understood where the area got its name from. Glancing over at Krieg, she was surprised to see that the cold didn't seem to bother him, even with the fact that he was shirtless. Part of her wanted to touch him and see how warm he was, but this time she controlled herself.

For the first while, their journey was rather boring. Gaige hugged herself tightly, attempting to keep any body heat that she could, making a mental note to invest in at the very least a jacket after this. It was unusually quiet, the only sounds that of their breathing and the snow crunching under their feet, almost as if the snow had muted everything else. After what felt like an infinite walk of freezing cold, a bandit camp came into sight in the distance. "Hey, hold on." She held out her arm in front of Krieg, making sure he actually stopped along with her. Nudging him behind a nearby rock, she grabbed her sniper rifle, holding the scope to her eye. Kneeling down beside the rock, she tried her best to ignore the snow sinking through her thin leggings.

"Hmm.." Moving the scope ever so slowly, she scanned the area. "Not too many of them. Mostly looks like marauders and bandits." A Psycho soon ran across her scope, charging across the area. "And maybe some psychos." Moving her sight up, she could see a couple more in the distance. "I can snipe out the further off…" Her words trailed off as she slowly looked to her side. The Psycho that had run across her sight wasn't an enemy. Sighing, she pressed her palm against her forehead. "Dammit. One moment. One moment is all I ask for, but no. Mister man here has to charge in before I can even get a plan out together. I swear, he's going to get us killed." Pushing her irritation aside, Gaige put the scope back up to her eye, easily taking out any enemies in the distance as Krieg mowed through the ones that were closer.

When the area was finally cleared out, Gaige stood up, dusting the little snow that clung to her off. Dropping the empty magazine from her sniper rifle, she loaded in a new one as she made her way to Krieg. "What the hell, dude?! I was trying to get a plan together, don't just charge in like that!" She chastised the much larger Physco like a child. Turning to look at her, he wiped some of the blood off his mask. "Next time, wait until I have the plan ready. We don't know what all we're up against and reckless behavior like that will get one or both of us killed." Not waiting for the response she knew wouldn't be there, the simmering redhead began to follow the path once again.

The distance between bandit camps and the few Spiderants that dotted the way wasn't what Gaige had expected. By the way Mordecai had sounded when he warned them to be cautious, she had expected many more threats. When they came up to the second camp, the mechromancer had attempted to stay in front of her Psycho partner, hoping to keep him at bay. When that didn't work, as the third one came into sight, she nearly yanked him to the ground with her. After he ran in, guns ablaze, she finally gave up. The closer they seemed to get to the center of the maze of caverns, the denser bandit camps became. If they were larger, Gaige would perch herself on a roof and take out the farther off enemies as Krieg took out the closer ones. If they were smaller, she would grab her assault rifle and charge in with him. Finally, as she began to drag and ammo began to run low, they came to a cave.

"This has to be it.." Gaige spoke as she wiped blood off her face. Cautiously making her way in, it was no surprise when Krieg just ran in, no fear. The entrance of the cave was a long, icy path that slowly turned to dry rock. As they finally approached what seemed like a large clearing, an ammo dump machine was perched along the wall. "There's some ammo." Holstering her pistol, she pulled out her small pouch of money. Purchasing as much ammo as she could afford, she felt a little more at ease. At least if there was a surprise coming at them, they would be ready.

Waiting for Krieg to do the same, Gaige made sure each of her guns was fully reloaded, staying close to Krieg as she did. Once they were both loaded and ready to go, she lead the way towards the opening. "Keep an eye out, there could be bandits in here." At this point, she wasn't fully sure why she still bothered trying, or even talking for that matter, when she knew he wouldn't respond or even listen. When there was no response, she began circling the area opposite from Krieg, making sure her gun was ready. As they both made their way around the area, they met again in the middle. "Looks like we've hit a dead end. No one's here."

Right as she spoke, there was a large ball of light in the center of the open space, a woman with short, fiery hair seemed to appear out of nowhere. She looked at the two vault hunters before falling to the ground. Gaige looked up at Krieg, who looked just as confused as she did. Cautiously making her way to the woman, she half held her gun up. "You okay?" The woman didn't respond, obviously needing help. Taking to her side, she looked her over for any wounds. "Eridium.." The woman groaned weakly, looking up at the smaller girl. "Um, what?" Gaige looked at her confused, not sure what she wanted.

"There's some eridium pieces on my table...I need it.." Krieg watched them interact, his gun lowered but still in his hands. Standing up, she quickly made her way to the table, grabbing the few pieces of purple rock. Taking them back to the other woman, she handed them to her. The strange woman took them, seeming to feel better almost immediately. There was almost a purple glow to her otherwise pale skin before she looked up at Gaige. "Who are you and why are you here?" She asked softly, seeming to still be rather weak.

"Names Gaige. That over there-" she gestured to the large Psycho. "-is Krieg. He's my partner and we're vault hunters. We were sent here to look for Roland, who I'm assuming is not you." The mechromancer stood up, offering the other redhead a hand to help her up. "You would be correct. I'm Lilith and Roland used to be here. I guess it's safe to say that Tannis sent you." Gaige nodded. "Yea, how'd you know?" Before Lilith could respond, there was distant shouting, followed by bandits beginning to filter in. "Shit, they found me. We've got to get them out of here." Lilith looked at Krieg and Gaige, hoping for their help. Krieg was way ahead of them, charging into the growing number of bandits. Gaige helped Lilith move towards her bed, sitting her so that she could take cover behind it before grabbing her sniper rifle. "We got that covered."

As Krieg slaughtered the bandits that made it in, Gaige took out most of the ones trying to come in. The growing number of bodies by the door helped slow the incoming number, helping make it much more manageable. "Reloading!" Gaige called out as she dropped the empty magazine. Reloading her gun, the sound of gunshots slowed to a stop in the background. "Is it clear?" Raising her scope, she turned her attention to the door. After a few moments of no movement, there was a sudden screaming. "What the hell?"

Lowering her gun, Gaige looked for her partner, only to find him screaming and running across the small area. Before she could ask or even wonder what was happening, two very large, badass psychos quickly began closing in on him, chasing after him quickly. "Summon Deathtrap, woman!" Krieg screamed as he ran faster. Gaige couldn't help but burst into a fit of giggles. Seeing a big Psycho, chased by even bigger psychos was a sight worth seeing. Raising her mecha arm, the large robot digistructed at her side. "Sick 'em boy!" She giggled out the words, Deathtrap quickly going after the badasses. It didn't take long for them to join the body count, just as a beeping came from her echo. "Good boy." Gaige smiled as DT disappeared.

Krieg glared at Gaige as he made his way towards Lilith, making sure she was okay. "My bad, bro. I didn't even see them." The petite redhead let out another giggle, the mental image one that she was going to cherish. "Lady okay?" Krieg asked Lilith, helping her off the ground where she was taking cover. The siren nodded. "Yea, I'm fine. Roland might not be though. Those bandits that came in here, their clan is who took him and why he isn't there. I was trying to get him back, but it didn't work in my favor."

"Gaige? Gaige are you there?" Tannis' voice suddenly came over the echo. Grabbing the device from its pouch on her belt, she tapped the screen. "Yea, I'm here. Sorry for a delayed response, we ran into some-" Before she could finish, Tannis interrupted. "Is Roland there?" This time Lilith spoke up. "Sorry, but he isn't. Only me." There was a pause. "Lilith? What are you doing there?" Gaige handed the siren her echo. "Long story short, I was told it would be best to hide out from Jack and did so. Roland was here with me, but we were ambushed by a group of bandits and they took him. I tried to get him back, but there's too many of them. I'll need help."

"The vault hunters will help, but until we get a plan together, I need the three of you to come back to Sanctuary. Especially you, Lilith. Without Roland, we have no leadership and you're the next in line. Without you, we don't know where to look next." Gaige looked up at the siren who seemed to hesitate. After a moment, she nodded. "I'll go back with these two. I trust that they can get me there safe." Gaige reached out for her echo. "Yea, we'll get her there safe. You can count on us!" She was a little overly cheery, but with her body still rather cold, she was just ready to get out of there and to her blankets.

"Be careful." With that said, Tannis ended their communication. "Yea, yea. So, let's get you out of this icy hell and back to Sanctuary before I get Frostburn on places I didn't know you could get Frostburn on." Gaige grabbed her pistol and began heading towards the door. Lilith followed closely behind her, Krieg trailing from behind. "So, I'm assuming you have a ride somewhere out here, right?" Gaige didn't say anything, instead making a light 'mmmm' sound. "Are you serious?!" Lilith didn't sound amused.

"Well, it's not MY fault. Big guy back there decided it would be fun to drive around like a maniac and sorta drove it off a cliff. I mean, it's by the entrance to the caverns, but it's mostly destroyed and banged up." The mechromancer tried to play it off as casually as she could, but by the siren's expression, she knew it wasn't working. "So we're going to have to walk all the way back?"

Gaige grabbed her echo, pulling up the map. "Well, there should be a fast travel somewhere out here, we just need to activate it." Following a few paths with her finger, she finally found it. "It's this way. Should still be cleared out too, so it should be easy." Taking the lead once again, Gaige drug her feet through the snow and along a nearby path. Luckily, she was right and the fast travel wasn't too far and along the way they ran into no sort of trouble. At least until they got to the fast travel.

Fifteen minutes after their arrival, Gaige was kicking and yelling at the machine. She couldn't get it to turn on and was on the verge of just destroying it. "You sure you don't need help?" Lilith was watching, unamused as she leaned against a nearby cave wall. The small redhead glared at her. "/who/ built the giant killer robot?" Lilith rolled her eyes. "You did, oh mighty one." Gaige began to press the non working buttons over and over again. "Exactly. So leave it to the electronics genius. Okay?" The siren let out a loud scoff before mocking her.

"Why are you being such a brat? I don't see you getting us home." Gaige stepped back to glare at Lilith as she spoke. "I offered to help at least a dozen times, but you always start on about how you're 'the tech genius' and can handle it. So I just step back and let you fuck around and be happy." The two girls began to argue, nearly at each other's throats when Krieg stepped away from where he was keeping watch. Walking up to the fast travel, he looked it over before flipping a small switch on the side. With that, it quickly sprang to life.

Gaige cut herself off, turning to look at the machine as it turned on. Sighing, she just shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Over it. So over it. Thanks, dude." Without another word, she pulled up the map and selected Sanctuary. The trio were quickly taken to just outside the town. Refusing to look at Lilith, or interact with her for the time being, the younger girl grabbed her Echo. Tapping the screen a few times, it rang before Tannis' voice chimed in with a 'what?'. "We're here. Where are we taking Princess to?" Gaige marched forward and through the opening gates, Krieg and Lilith following close behind.

"Bring her to the Crimson raiders HQ. I'll send you the coordinates." Rolling her eyes, Gaige pulled up the map on her small device, leading them to the marked spot. The building was large, at least two floors. The first floor was mostly open, a large table taking up a good chunk of space, stairs off to the side. Tannis stood from where she was sitting, walking over to the siren. "Lilith, it's good to see you. We have a lot to talk about." The fiery haired woman nodded. "That we do. We have to get Roland back. Let's talk."

Tannis turned to the vault hunters, Krieg standing with his arms crossed as Gaige paced back and forth. "You two are free to go for now. We will be in contact with you the moment we get a plan together." Gaige didn't even wait for more. "Great. Bye!" With Krieg close behind, she quickly made her way back to their house, closing the door behind them. Kicking off her shoes, she went to her room to burrow into her blankets and finish defrosting from Frostburn Canyon. "If you need me, just come in. I have some relaxing to do."


	3. Chapter 3

For the most part, Gaige passed the time watching a show on her echo as well as trying to figure out Krieg. He acted stupid. Spoke like he was stupid. Yet, he knew who she was and who Deathtrap was. Maybe it was all just a cover and he really was just as smart as everyone else. Why would he play stupid then and why would he do things that would get them killed? Could he be a spy undercover for Jack that was trying to kill off the vault hunters? The more she thought about it, the more questions came to mind. However, her conspiracy thoughts didn't last for far too long as she began to unintentionally drift into a warm, comfortable nap.

Yawning, the petite girl stretched out on her bed, sitting up as she rubbed her eyes. It took a moment before it all hit her. The sun was no longer fighting through her covered window and the house was far too quiet. "Shit. What time is it?" She suddenly felt like she had slept for days and had no idea when it was. 8:45pm. Great, what afternoon she had left was now late evening. "Just wonderful.." Gaige complained to herself as she scooted out of bed. Reaching up with her flesh hand, she undid the clasps around what hair had managed to stay in pigtails, running her fingers through the red locks to help it all blend together.

Expecting Krieg to be off doing whatever it was Psychos did in their spare time, Gaige was pretty surprised to find him in the living room. He was sitting on the couch, listening to some random music on the small radio. "Did I miss anything interesting while I slept?" She spoke over the music, plopping down on the opposite end of the couch as Krieg. Crossing her legs and resting them on the coffee table, she responded to the nonexistent answer. "Oh, good I was hoping I didn't miss anything." Setting her echo on her lap, she began to scroll through different things and watch different shows, trying to help pass time.

It was strange having Krieg, the idiotic Psycho who drove them off a cliff and constantly screamed about gory things, sitting so calmly. It was nice. Glancing up from the device on her lap, she watched him without trying to make it obvious. One arm was on the armrest, the other across his chest as he gently tapped a foot to the beat of the current song. Gaige shifted slightly where he sat, but he didn't seem to notice, as if in how own little world. What was that saying? Music calms the savage beast? She was sure it was something along those lines and was honestly surprised it seemed to hold some sort of truth.

The time smoothly passed by, the vault hunters seeming comfortable with each other's presence despite the lack of conversation. Sometime around two in the morning, Gaige dozed off where she sat, her echo slipping to the ground. Krieg, his mind pulled from its thoughts at the sound of the thump, turned to look at the mechromancer, curled into her seat and asleep. Tilting his head, he let her be for several more moments before he finally stood up. Picking up the device, he set it on the coffee table before sliding his arms under Gaige. With ease, he picked her sleeping body up and carried her to her room, placing her on her bed before retiring to his own room.

Gaige slept much better than she had slept in a long while. Whether it be because she finally had another human(ish) presence in the house or because there was no worry about being attacked at some point in the night, she wasn't sure, but it was nice. Sometime around nine, she rolled onto her back, the sun shining through the window. Yawning, she rubbed her eyes before sitting up. "What the-?" She looked down at her bed confused. "How did I get here?" It took her a moment to realize that the only way was Krieg had to have brought her to bed. A soft smile tugged at her lips. Maybe he wasn't that bad after all.

Grabbing some clean clothes, she quietly snuck out of her room and disappeared into the bathroom. A long, hot shower is all she needed to make the morning a perfect one. Turning on the water, she undressed before glancing at her reflection. Her once short red hair clung to the tops of her shoulders. Running her fingers through the growing locks, she contemplated growing it out but decided to leave that for another day. Gaige let the shower drag out much longer than she normally did, but thirty minutes later, she sat on the kitchen counter, wet hair down as she ate a bowl of cereal.

Kicking her legs against the cabinets, she glanced at her inactive echo. Tannis hadn't gotten in contact with her since last night, so all she could assume was that a plan was still in the making. At least there was a bit of a break between missions. For now. The sound of a door opening pulled her attention up, Krieg coming down the hallway, mask already on. "Morning." She chimed out a bit more awake than she really felt. Krieg looked at her and she could've sworn he mumbled a 'good morning' in response. He opened up the fridge and began to look through their limited options, ultimately deciding in the same cereal she was eating. Sitting on the bar between the living room and kitchen, he unbuckled the bottom strap of his mask, pushing it aside just enough so he could eat.

Gaige glanced up at him, curious as to how he looked under the mask. Part of her hoped he would've taken his mask off to eat, but she knew he more than likely wouldn't. Accepting that she would probably never see his actual face, she finished off the remaining pieces of cereal in her bowl. "Hey. Thanks for taking me to bed last night." She mumbled softly. He glanced up at her, nodding. Gaige knew that was his way of saying no problem. It was a bit strange, but she was slowly understanding his ways of communication. Sort of at least. Hopping off the counter, she did her dishes and set them aside to dry before going to sit next to him on the bar. It wasn't a very big space and their shoulders brushed slightly, but he didn't seem to notice, or if he did notice, he didn't care.

Holding her echo to where they could both see the screen, Gaige pulled up a map of the nearby area. "Tannis and Lilith are still coming up with a plan, or whatever, so I figured to pass time we could explore. Maybe see what we can find at the bandit camps and stuff. Just to help pass the time, because if I have to sit here all day, Ima get cabin fever." The surrounding area was rather large and open, plus full of bandit camps here and there. Some of them had to have good items hidden and Gaige wanted to find them. Krieg was silent, slowly eating his cereal for a few moments before he shrugged. "Okay." He grumbled the single word before going to set his bowl in the sink.

In all honesty, the redhead hadn't expected Krieg to agree so easily and was fully prepared to argue with him, but the fact he didn't argue was a pleasant surprise. "Awesome! I'm gonna go get ready." Hopping down, she quickly scurried to her room. Grabbing her vest, she slid it on before hopping around and wiggling into her leggings. Pulling her hair up into pigtails, she grabbed her two rifles and pistol before going into the living room.

Krieg was already sitting on the couch, reloading his shotgun. His mask was fully strapped down once again. "Ready?" She bounced on the balls of her feet, just ready to do something. Without a word, he stood up and began towards the door. Gaige followed close at his heels, letting him lead them out the gates. "Let's grab an outrunner to make the search a bit easier." The catch-a-ride wasn't too far, within just a couple minute walk of the gates. As Gaige began to select the vehicle, she glanced over at Krieg. "I'm driving this time." The Psycho let out a low chuckle, but shrugged as if to show he accepted that.

The large, pink vehicle spawned up in front of them, Gaige quickly climbing into the driver seat. Krieg easily lifted himself into the gunner seat, taking hold of the handles as she began to drive off into the open areas around them. It didn't take long for the pair to come across a bandit camp, bandits quickly alerted of the new presence before them. Having learned from Frostburn Canyon, Gaige didn't even try to come up with a plan. Instead, she silently watched as Krieg charged in, shotgun ready. Climbing up into the gunner seat for protection, Gaige held her sniper rifle out, picking out the further off ones.

Once everyone was dead, she joined Krieg amidst the dread bodies. "Look for guns." She kneeled down beside a dead marauder, picking up the small, weak gun he had been using. "Good ones." She added as an afterthought. They spent the next thirty or so minutes thoroughly searching the area, top to bottom. Gaige climbed on the roofs, crawling into small areas that were much to small for Krieg to fit through. Despite their efforts, all they found was some small change and a few, weak guns that were for nothing better then for making a few extra bucks. "Let's move on to the next one." They tossed the guns into the backpack Gaige had brought along before heading off to the next camp.

It became a cycle over the next several hours. Find the next camp, take out the bandits, then search for guns and money. Even the occasional eridium. Aside from money and eridium, their searches didn't find anything worthwhile in terms of finding a good gun, but they still took what they found. If anything, they could at least sell them to Marcus for some extra money. The sun was already beginning to set and both vault hunters were bloody and tired. "Let's get home. I need a shower." Gaige didn't wait for any sort of response from zKrieg before she hopped into the driver seat. Even the Psycho was tiring out, taking a bit more effort than earlier to lift himself into the gunner seat. Pushing the pedal down, Gaige wasted no time getting them back to Sanctuary.

Hopping out the car, the petite mechromancer struggled to hoist the gun filled bag from its small spot, regretting having shoved it in there. "Help me out here!" She called out to Krieg, who easily wiggled it free for her. Slinging it onto her back with her mecha arm, the pair made their way to Marcus' shop. It was small, an ammo dump machine right inside the doors. A very large, very yellow sign that read 'Guns' loomed just over the doorway. So much for subtlety. Opening the door, they made their way to the barred counted, a stocky man just on the other side of the bars. Black hair was slicked back, a stripe of silver on either side of his head, a trimmed, peppered beard and mustache decorating his face.

"Ah, vault hunters! Welcome, welcome. What can I do for you?" A thick accent clung to his words and despite his height, she could tell he wasn't someone you would piss off. "Just brought some things to sale. Nothing too special." With the help of Krieg, Gaige set the gun filled backpack onto the counter. "Looks like you two had a fun time in the bandit camps." Marcus spoke as he began to expertly look over one of the guns. He continued to make small comments, mostly to himself as he slowly emptied the bag. "Not too bad for one day." Setting the guns somewhere out of sight, he opened a small lock box, pulling out a fairly good sized wad of cash. "It's always a pleasure doing business." He held it out to Gaige, who quickly took it. "I'm sure you'll see more of us as time goes on." Krieg grabbed the empty bag, otherwise just standing off to the side.

Counting the money, Gaige split it in half, holding part of it out to Krieg. "Here's your split." He eyed it for a moment before taking it and handing her the backpack. "Guess if we don't hear from Tannis tomorrow, we can do it again." The rest of the walk home was quiet aside from their dragging feet on the ground. Gaige kicked her shoes off in the living room, tossing the bag next to them before going to take a shower. Finally relaxed and clean, Gaige opted to keep her hair down and only wear her skirt and Shirt, leaving her vest and leggings in her room.

Making her way quietly to the kitchen, she assumed Krieg had turned in for the night as she began to make herself something to eat. The sound of the shower kicking on told her otherwise and she simply glanced towards the door. It was strange to see Krieg do normal things like shower or make food or just relax. Seeing psychos on a daily basis on the battlefield, the redhead never quite imagined one could have a normal life like this.

Having gotten lost in her thoughts, as well as her sandwich, the sudden sound of the radio turning on made Gaige jump. Looking over at the couch, she hadn't even realized Krieg was out of the shower and on the couch, just as he was the night before. Gulping down a glass of water, she decided to join him, her echo in hand. Mimicking the previous night, she sat on the other end of the couch, feet propped up on the coffee table as she busied herself on the echonet.

This became their nightly routine without either of them really noticing it. It just slipped into their lives and even if neither of them acknowledged it, they both knew changing it would make an uncomfortable difference in their lives. Krieg would listen to the radio, silently tapping along to the beat. Gaige would entertain herself with her echo and at some point, fall asleep. Once Krieg began to tire himself, he would carry her to her room and tuck her into bed.

The routine slowly integrated into their lives over the next couple nights, the following day setting them out in an outrunner, searching for bandit camps to loot. By the fourth day, Gaige was tired of waiting. While Krieg still slept, she marched her way down to the Crimson Raiders HQ. Assuming that she had free reign to enter as she pleased, the redhead slammed the doors open, making sure they knew she was there.

Tannis, Lilith and Mordecai, who all looked very tired, jumped at the sudden sound. The trio was sitting around the large table, maps and papers with random writing on them spread along the surface. "SO, what's the plan guys?" She strutted to the table, leaning over it to look at the maps a bit closer. Mordecai, obviously annoyed, got up and disappeared up the steps. Tannis began to try and get everything in order and Lilith, well she looked like she was about to explode. "We said we would call you when we got one together." Gaige picked up a piece of scribbled on paper, only to have it snatched away. "I got bored waiting. Just tell us where he is and we can march on in there and get him. No biggie."

Tannis glared up at her. "Roland is a very important person here, whether or not you realize this. If we charge in without figuring it all out, they could kill him." Gaige rolled her eyes. "For making him sound so important and like you desperately need him, you sure are taking your sweet ass time with this." Lilith looked as if she was about to strangle her. "Out!" Gaige huffed loudly. "I'm just trying to help, but whatever. Call me."

Turning on her heel, she began back towards the house. Going out bandit hunting was beginning to bore her and she knew Krieg had to somewhat feel the same way. Searching through the echonet, she smiled to herself. Maybe she found a better alternative after all. Walking into her house a bit more quietly, Gaige found Krieg sharpening his buzzaxe blades. "Hey, I found something better to do today. My echo found a bounty board nearby and it looks like it has a job or two. Gets us out and a pretty good amount of cash." Krieg didn't say anything, but stood up, so she took it as an okay.

"Just let me grab my stuff." She disappeared into her room, grabbing her guns and ammo before leading them out to the nearby bounty board. It ended with them at the local mechanics garage, looking for a man named Scooter. A man lay under a large outrunner, tools and parts littering the floor around him. "Hey, you Scooter?" Gaige called out, the man rolling out from under the vehicle. "Who's asking?" A very thick country accent clung to his words, grease smeared on his cheek. "We are. Saw you had a job to do on the bounty board." Scooter stood up, wiping his hands on his already dirty pants, not that it made much of a difference.

"Oh yea, that. I have myself a sister, Ellie, and she lives out in the Dust. She has a junkyard down there and I need someone to check on her. Been worried bout 'er. Haven't heard anythin' from her recently. I would do it myself, but I ain't much of a fightin' man." Gaige shrugged. "We'll do it. No big deal." Scooter smiled a toothy grin. "Great! Once yew two git out there and back, I'll pay y'all." Fair enough.

Pulling up the map on her echo, Gaige leaned against the garage just outside the door. "The Dust." She hummed softly, looking over the areas. "Doesn't look too far. Should be a fast travel we can access just on the outskirts of the area." Kicking off away from the wall, Gaige lead Krieg towards the fast travel outside the gates. Sure enough the fast travel just outside the Dust was activated and she quickly selected it.

Not too far away from their destination sat a catch-a-ride. Gaige lazily made her way to it, making the same selection as always. "You can drive today. I'm kinda tired of driving." The mechromancer wasn't sure what came over her, but she lifted herself into the gunner seat. Surely, he couldn't do too bad at driving around here, there wasn't any cliffs for them to drive off of. Unfortunately, while there weren't many cliffs, there were several hills, abandoned camps and other things that could be used to very easily make the car airborne. Gaige hid in her seat, screaming out in terror. While this wasn't as life threatening, it was threatening to give her a heart attack. "The junkyard isn't too far from here!" She called down, trying her best to hold on and aim at the bandits driving around in their own tactical vehicles.

As if finding the worst timing possible, Gaige's echo began to ring. At first she tried to ignore it and keep her focus, but it wouldn't stop. Tapping the screen, she had the shout over the distant gunfire and wind whipping around her. "Hello?!" She quickly shot out the nearest bandits, their vehicle spinning out of control. "Gaige. We need you and Krieg back here." Tannis sounded exhausted and stern. "Sorry, but no can do."

She could hear the anger in Tannis' voice. "I didn't ask if you could, I said we need you here. We have a plan put together." Gaige shook her head as if the other woman could see her. "Not in Sanctuary. Somewhere out in the Dust. We'll be there as soon as we finish our business here." Krieg suddenly turned their direction towards a large junkyard coming into sight, nearly sending Gaige out of her seat in the process. "Dammit Gaige! What the hell are you trying to pull here?!" Lilith chimed in and boy was she pissed. "Uhh, keeping ourselves entertained. See you later." She quickly hung up before she be yelled at any further.

As the junkyard came closer, Gaige slowly loosened her grip to the gun. The vehicle was slowly moving just inside the piles of metal scraps when it suddenly came to a halt. With her hold not as tight as it should've been, Gaige tumbled forward and out of the gunner seat and straight on top of Krieg. Her face smashed into the steering wheel as she landed on his lap, back to his chest. "OWWWW!" Tears pricked at her eyes as her flesh hand flew up to her now bleeding nose. Surely it had to be broken. It wasn't until Krieg shifted under her that she fully realized where she was.

A light red brushed at her cheeks, but she refused to let it win. "Asshole." She smacked his shoulder with her mecha arm, just hard enough to leave a nice bruise before she began to try and climb out. Needless to say, the driver seat was barely big enough for the Psycho, much less both of them that he ended up having to almost lift her up before she could get out. Blood dripped down her palm and arm, leaving small drops on the dirt.

"Life blood.." Krieg laughed softly as he watched the red liquid drip down Gaige's arm. "Yea. Mine and I like it inside of me." By the time they made it to the large building in the center of the mess, her nose had finally stopped bleeding, but dry blood had crusted on her face and hand, her nose now a nasty blackish purple bruise.

The closer they got, a woman came into sight. She was a larger girl with short blonde hair. "Hey y'all, what can I do for you?" Her voice was sweet, a softer country accent hugging her words then they did Scooter's. "Are you Ellie?" Gaige asked, stopping a couple feet away. "I am. What on earth happened to you?" It wasn't till then that she realized that she had to look like a mess. "Idiot partner happened. Anyways, Scooter sent us. Just wanted us to make sure you were okay." The other woman simply sighed and shook her head. "Can't go a few days without talking to him, trying to go about life and not have him think I've gotten myself killed. I'm sorry my idiot brother wasted your time." Gaige shook her head. "No problem, really. We haven't had much going on."

There was a loud crash that quickly made the two women turn their attention to the source. Krieg had somehow managed to climb up to the top of a junk pile, only to come tumbling down along with some of the junk while laughing. "Sorry about him. He's not the brightest." Gaige shook her head. Ellie laughed. "It's okay. Do you need a towel to wipe off your-" she gestured around the nose area. "No, no. It's okay, I can just wash up at home. Speaking of, we better be getting there soon. Just give Scooter a call and let him know we dropped by." Gaige idly began to try and rub some of the dry blood off her hand. "Will do. If y'all want, there's a fast travel in my garage you can use. Should git you where you gotta go."

"That would be great. Saves us time." Gaige began walking towards the large garage. "Krieg, come on! Let's go home and face the music." The Psycho quickly took to her side, dusting dirt and mud off himself before they reached the fast travel. Reaching up for the map, she selected Sanctuary, having no idea what exactly they were in for when they arrived.


	4. Chapter 4

Gaige sat in one of the chairs around the large table in the Crimson Raiders HQ. Krieg (with his handprint shaped bruise) was leaning against a nearby wall and Tannis and Lilith were trying to calm down. As soon as the vault hunters had appeared at the fast travel, Lilith was waiting for them and she was rather irritated. Though, when she saw Gaige and all the blood and the bruise, the smaller redhead wasn't sure which reaction was better. The siren preparing to yell or how she freaked out. She was quickly taken to Zed, making sure nothing was broken (it wasn't) and getting her cleaned up. Now, she held an ice pack to her sore face, waiting for the plans they had supposedly come up with.

There were several moments of silence and pacing before Gaige finally spoke up. "Soooo, these plans? Once again, you aren't making this seem as important as you keep claiming it is." Propping her feet up on the table, she readjusted the ice pack. Tannis simply shook her head. "We found Roland and know what's around, but honestly, right now you're just giving me a headache." Gaige laughed softly. "Whoops?"

Lilith pinched the bridge of her nose before making her way back to the table, pushing Gaige's feet off. Her porcelain like skin contrasted against the dark table as she began to gather up the papers off the large printed map. Gaige, now standing up, set the ice pack down in her seat so that she could look over the red marks and pins sporadically spread across the page. "First things first, Roland is in the Bloodshot Stronghold." Her tattooed hand delicately rested on a large area that was circled in red marker.

"Bandits are protecting the entrance to the area. The stronghold is where Roland is. Not too far from him is Hyperion." Her slender finger traced the large red circle. Gaige raised a brow. "How do we know that there's Hyperion?" Lilith looked up at Tannis before back at Gaige. "We have some help. From the inside." Suddenly, as if on queue, Gaige's echo lit up. A woman's face that she had never seen before appeared. Part of her hair was shaved, the rest long and black. Her face was soft, but no distinct features could be made out. "Hyperion isn't just going to allow the bandits to take your friend, Roland. They know who he is and want him dead." The woman's voice was serious. "Um, who the hell are you?" Gaige picked up the echo, staring at the other girl.

"Angel. She's the one that recommended I hide out from Jack." Lilith explained, keeping her eyes on the map. "Not that we have much reason to trust her." Tannis chimed in, sounding rather stiff. "I promised I would help and I intend fully to keep that promise." Angel argued back. "Look, just be careful in there. They want Roland and they aren't afraid to take what they want. Hyperion loaders are not something to be taken lightly. Vault hunters, you have to trust me." With that, the screen turned to black, only showing Gaige's reflection with Krieg (who had snuck up behind her), right behind her.

"Lady help?" Krieg looked around the room for answers. "She claims she will. However, due to previous history with her, we have no reason to fully believe her." Tannis walked over to the others, looking over the map. "But she's all we have in preparing for what we don't know." Lilith, obviously tiring of the conversation, quickly spoke up. "There's a gated bandit camp that leads to the only entrance to the stronghold. You two need to find a way in and get inside." Her fingers began to trace along paths. "Somewhere, you'll find the keys. Then, you can get inside. That's when things become serious."

Gaige stood in the gunner seat, mecha hand holding tightly to the side to keep her balance. Her goggles were pushed down over her eyes as she looked around the area Krieg was driving through. "Over there!" She called down to the Phyco, a tall, metal fence coming into sight. Quickly sitting back down, he turned the outrunner to begin in the right direction.

After going over the plan in detail, the vault hunters retired home for the night. They prepared their weapons and loaded up on ammo before going about their nightly routine. Now, the morning sun was rising high and they were beginning their rescue. Mordecai warned that it was a surprisingly strong gate and they were well guarded. Yet, there was one way he noticed they were getting in. As bandits returned to the camp, they honked their horn and the gate was lowered. It was so simple it sounded stupid, but it was worth a try.

Krieg drove up to the gate, pressing down on the horn. Voices could be heard inside and slowly, the gate began to lower. It was about half way down when someone shouted to stop. "That's not one of us! Don't let them in!" Of course. It had been too simple to be true. "Get us out of here, big guy." Gaige tried to mentally survey where the controls to the gate were and how many guards there were as Krieg turned the car around.

Grabbing her echo, Gaige quickly called Tannis. Before the other woman could even get past a 'hello', she was speaking. "We have a problem. They know we aren't one of them. There's a lot of guards and more than likely even more of them inside. The controls are inside and there's no way to scale the gate. Or go around." Krieg had pulled the car aside, trying to keep it out of sight. For once, his driving hadn't almost killed them. "Then you need to find a way in. Try stealing one of their vehicles or something. Figure it out and hurry."

Without an answer, Gaige hung up. "We have to try and steal one of their cars." She looked around, hoping there would be a bandit vehicle somewhere nearby. "Or make ours look like theirs." That's when it dawned on her. The junkyard they had visited yesterday. There had to be something they could use there. Pulling up her map, she glanced it over. "Take us back to the Dust. I'm sure we'll find something in that junkyard that can help."

Pushing her goggles back up, Gaige rubbed her sore nose. The bruise had faded ever so slightly, but it still hurt just as bad as when it happened. It didn't take long for them to arrive at the large junkyard, Krieg pulling up to the garage. "Ellie?!" Gaige called out as she stood up. "Who's there?!" The blonde came out of the garage, smiling when she saw the vault hunters. "Already back? I promise I called Scooter yesterday and this morning."

Gaige climbed down from her seat, sliding to the ground. "I know you did, he already paid us for that. We're here for a different reason." Ellie stopped just beside the outrunner. "What can I help you with?" The mechromancer took a deep breath. "We need to get into a bandit camp. For that, we need a vehicle that looks like theirs. You have anything around here that can help us out?" She was looking around at the piles of scraps, but from where she stood, nothing looked useful.

A low chuckle rumbled in Ellie's chest. "Well, it's your lucky day. Come into the garage." She turned and began to slowly make her way to the garage, the two vault hunters following at her heels. Both garage doors were open, large windows covering most of the walls. It was much nicer and organized then Scooter's. Sitting on one of the two car spots was a pieced together bandit vehicle. "I'm the only mechanic in these parts. In exchange for working on their cars, they pay me and leave me alone. I've been piecing together one for the catch-a-ride, but I'm still missing a few parts. I can't go out and just take them, so I've just been waiting for them to come across. However, you two-" She gestured to Gaige and Krieg. "-can take the parts without any issues. I just need a few. Kill off the bandits driving around, carefully, and take what we need." Reaching into her vest, Ellie pulled out a paper and quickly scribbled something on it before holding it out. "That's what we need." Gaige quickly took it and looked it over. "Sounds easy enough. I'm driving." She looked up at Krieg who shrugged and followed her to the outrunner.

It took a handful of times driving in a circle until they finally found a car full of bandits. Gaige quickly drove after them as Krieg took them out. The vehicle took a little damage, but nothing bad. "Cover me." Gaige climbed out of the driver seat, making sure it was clear before making her way to the vehicle. Using her mecha arm to pull the hood open, her eyes quickly scanned around. Cars weren't her specialty, but mechanical things came like second nature to the redhead. It took a while, but she soon had all the parts yanked out and in her arms.

Krieg was half keeping a lookout sitting up in the gunner seat, feet propped up on the gun. Luckily no one interrupted them or else she was pretty sure it would've ended bad. Dumping the parts beside the driver seat, she climbed in and drove off, not giving Krieg a chance to adjust. The lurch of the car moving was just enough for him to fall into the spot right between to seat and gun. A string of obscenities left his mouth as he began to try and pull himself out. Gaige couldn't help but laugh to herself. Payback was a bitch after all. At least his face wasn't bruised.

By the time they arrived at the garage, Krieg had managed to wiggle himself free and wouldn't stop shooting a glare down at Gaige. "Got them?" Ellie asked as she popped out from the garage. "Every single one!" The mechromancer climbed out of the outrunner, grabbing the parts and hauling them to the larger woman. Giving them free reign to do as they pleased for the next 45 minutes, Ellie began to work. Krieg stayed up in the gunner seat, opting for a nap, Gaige digging through the junk and scraps. Never hurt to see what one could find, especially when you had a mecha arm and giant robot.

As she dug through a pile, Gaige pulled out her echo to give Tannis a call. After a ring, her voice carried through. "Hello?" Gaige looked over some gears she found. "Found a way in. Just gonna be like thirty minutes or so till it's ready." Tannis paused. "How?"

"Well Ellie lives out here and she's Scooter's sister. She's going to make us a vehicle that looks like the bandits vehicles so we can use it to trick them and get it." She explained, only half paying attention to the other woman's response as she looked over some interesting looking pieces. "Well, whatever works. Let me know when you're in."

"Will do."

Gaige put her echo away, continuing to busy herself. Time passed by fairly quickly and before she knew it, Ellie was calling out to the vault hunters. Shoving the few small gears she had found into the pouch on her belt, the petite redhead made her way back to the garage. "Wake up." She smacked Krieg's leg that was hanging over the edge of the gunner seat. He jumped and quickly looked around, only to see Gaige. "Asshole." He grumbled before climbing down.

Ellie wiped her hands clean on an old rag, a large vehicle parked in front of the vault hunters. "Here y'all go. It's ready and you can now access it through the catch-a-ride too. It'll handle a little differently then the outrunner, so just be easy on it till you get the hang of it." She pat the side, a hollow metal thud ringing through the garage. "I hope it helps y'all. If you need anything else, don't be afraid to come on by." Gaige made her way to the driver seat. "Thanks so much, Ellie. We owe you one."

Krieg climbed up into the gunner seat and with a final wave to Ellie, they quickly drove off. Following their previous path back to the bandit camp, Gaige slowed as the gate came into sight. Glancing up at the Psycho, she honked the horn. This was either going to work or get them killed. As before, voices could be heard shouting on the other side, the gate starting to lower once again, but this time it didn't stop until the entrance was fully open.

Krieg chuckled to himself, eager to get down to the fighting as Gaige drove the vehicle just inside the gate. Trying not to raise any alarm towards the bandits walking around, she slowly got out the driver seat. Glancing up at Krieg, she gave him a slight nod. Then, as he jumped down, reaching for his shotgun, she raised her mecha arm. "Sick 'em boy!" Deathtrap digistructed in front of her, wasting no time before quickly attacking. Krieg took the moment of surprise and panic among the bandits, charging in. "Blood bath!" He shouted in joy, not hesitating in killing any bandit within his range. Gaige grabbed her assault rifle from her back, easily handling any bandits that came her way.

It took them a good twenty or so minutes before the ground was littered with blood and bodies, Krieg covered in blood that wasn't his own and Gaige with only a few splashes of red staining her face and arms. "You good?" She asked as they took to each other's side again. Krieg's eye seemed to be locked on her, but Gaige didn't notice. The sight of blood on her pale (albeit bruised) face was a sight to see for him. He just nodded. "Good. Now we need to find keys."

As soon as she finished speaking, a large nomad came around the corner, carrying an even larger shield. Strapped to the front were three, protesting, midgets. "Oh boy.." Gaige quickly ran for cover as Krieg charged in head on, buzz axe in hand. The shield proved to be a sturdy source of protection, Krieg's axe getting stuck just above one of the midgets, who began to scream. Krieg began to try and pry his weapon free, only to be flung across the open area and into a nearby building.

"Shit, shit shit shitshitshit.." Gaige cursed to herself as she watched Krieg fly into the wall. She knew he would be okay, but that just showed that the nomad was a tough one. Taking to the rooftops, the mechromancer jumped from roof to roof, knowing she would have to aim at him from behind or else her bullets would be useless against his shield. When she was finally in position, she took aim to fire, kneeling near the edge of one of the rooftops. Pulling the trigger, she didn't realize the nomad had seen her. Pulling his own gun, he fired at one of the supports holding up where she was, the wood splitting and giving way. The bullet she fired missed its mark with the sudden movement of her tumbling to the ground, instead hitting the nomad on the arm.

Groaning, her hand grabbed for her sniper rifle from where it had landed, her leggings torn at the knees. The nomad was now making his way towards her, each step full of killer intent. Standing up, she began to run from him, only to wind up in a dead end. Deathtrap still hadn't replenished enough energy to digistruct back and each of her bullets she attempted to shoot bounced off the shield. Pressing her back into the metal wall of one of the buildings, she could see Krieg coming up behind the nomad. With a big swing of his axe, the nomad stopped in his tracks, blood splattering onto the dirt. His body fell and the midgets began to cheer. Gaige, being a nice person, untied the ropes that were holding them and the three scurried off.

"Girl okay?" Krieg's voice quickly pulled her back to what had happened. Her flesh arm was scraped and bleeding, as were both of her knees. They throbbed in dull pain, but nothing bad. "Yea, I'm fine. Thanks for saving me. Again." She added the last part quietly, kicking the nomads body over so that she could search the pockets. Splitting the money she had found, she smiled when the keys were among the rewards. "Let's go get Roland."

The door leading to the stronghold was large and sturdy, towering over both vault hunters. Turning the key in the lock, it took Gaige a lot of effort to finally push it open as Krieg stood ready with his gun just in case. To their surprise, all they found before them was a dark hallway that opened up into a well lit room. Staying close to one another's side, they quietly made their way into the open room, a group of rats wandered the open area, but the presence of the vault hunters went unnoticed.

Grabbing her sniper rifle, Gaige held her arm out in front of Krieg. For once, he actually stopped. She took aim and easily took two out before the others noticed. Krieg then took that as his chance and charged in, followed by Gaige's gunshots. The stronghold was massive. The rooms were large and open, full of rats, marauders and nomads. The vault hunters fought their way through, room after room, but it seemed like it would never end. Deathtrap helped them out more than once, but while his energy always came back after a while, the vault hunters didn't.

Krieg had blood all over him, from head to toe the red liquid was splattered over him. He seemed to enjoy it though, almost even finding pleasure in it. Gaige, however had tried to avoid making herself a mess. Her bloody knees were covered in dirt and debris from kneeling behind different objects to snipe out the bandits from afar. Most of the blood on her was from their battle into the stronghold or her own. They were tiring out, but the enemy never stopped coming. "Does it ever end?" Gaige breathed heavily as they walked up the steps in a large room, a whirlpool in the center on the ground.

As they made their way into the door to another room, she could've sworn there was a body that belonged to a bandit neither her or Krieg killed, but she thought nothing of it. They were all starting to look alike. Just dead bodies on the ground. By the time they came up to the holding cells, Krieg was dragging his feet and Gaige had opted to have DT carry her up on his shoulder, no longer having faith in her own legs to carry her much further.

"Thanks boy." Gaige praised her robot companion as he lowered her to the ground. Pressing a button on her echo, he disappeared. "He has to be here somewhere.." She spoke mostly to herself, her legs aching with each step she took. A long hot bath was definitely on the night's schedule. Drawing her assault rifle to be on the safe side, she began to peek into the cells, Krieg keeping an eye from behind her.

"Roland?!" Gaige called out in a hushed whisper. Aside from their shuffling footsteps, there was no other sound. "Roland?!" She called out again. Silence. "I don't think-" She was about to give up on the cells when she heard something. "Hello?" A man's voice echoed through the empty area. "Is someone there?" The sound of footsteps shuffling in the near distance could be heard.

"This way." Gaige rushed towards where the other voice came from, finding the source in one of the furthest cells. "Hello? Someone back here?" Her voice was soft, almost worried that someone else would jump out and attack them. "Back here." A man stood near the bars of a darkened cell, chocolate skin covered by what looked like a military uniform.

"Are you Roland?" The mechromancer didn't bother trying to beat around the bush, Krieg close at her side, but his attention mostly on their surrounding area. "I am. Who are you?" His voice was deep and commanding, each word demanding your attention. "I'm Gaige and he's Krieg. We were sent here by Tannis and Lilith to find you and bust you out." A low chuckle rumbled deep in his chest. "Well, hell. Looks like they don't give up. Good thing for me. You're the vault hunters, aren't you?" Gaige nodded. "Yea. Let's get you out of there, then we can talk."

Just as her mecha arm wrapped around the bars to attempt and pull the cell open, there was a loud crashing behind Roland. A large loader bot had smashed the back of the cell down and was reaching for the man. Before Gaige could react, the bot had him in its hold and was yanking him from the cell. "Let me go, dammit!" Roland's voice faded into the distance as he was carried off.

"Fuck. Absolute fuck!" Shaking the bars, they showed no sign of giving. "We've gotta get out there." Krieg was already on it. A large door sat not too far away, a control pad next to it. The Psycho pressed the green button, the door starting to lift open. Before it could fully rise, Gaige ducked under it and ran out into the sunlight. She had to pause, the sudden light blinding her for several moments until her eyes could adjust. As they did, her heart sank. Ruins of buildings, walls and cars were scattered around the roads. Fires burned brightly, while others dimmed down to embers. Pieces of loader bots lay around, dead bodies of bandits laying in their blood, the two obviously having been in battle.

"Oh no.." Krieg's footsteps came up behind her. "Blood." He grumbled as he looked around. "We've got to find Roland…" Her voice almost sounded defeated. "In all of this." A strong arm draped over her shoulders, causing her to look up. "We do this. Together." He encouraged her and somehow, it helped. Nodding, she made her way to an ammo dump that was badly beaten, but still looked functional. The vault hunters loaded up on ammo before starting to make their way through the area.

Just like the stronghold, it never seemed to end. Except now, they also had Hyperion on their asses. At first, most of the bandits and loaders were more caught up in their own battle, but the further they made it in, the less bandits there were. Gaige could feel her second wind slowly running low and even Krieg seemed to be tiring out. "We have to almost be there.." She breathed heavily, climbing over a pile of rubble to get on the other side of a broken down wall.

Roland stood in sight, a partially destroyed wall behind him. Unfortunately, a large constructor bot stood guard beside him as well. "Come on!" Gaige begged, as if to ask the universe to try and take it easy on them at least once. "We've gotta take that thing down!" Roland shouted from where he stood. Krieg, shotgun in hand, began to easily take out the loader bots as Gaige grabbed her rocket launcher, glad she opted to bring it along.

"Cover me, bro!" She called out to Krieg as she kneeled down. Using her mecha arm to help brace the gun, she took aim and fired, only for it to crash into a shield. "Fuck! Come on! We've gotta get that shield down!" Grabbing her assault rifle, she began to shoot at the shield, hoping to weaken it. After an entire magazine, it showed no signs of weakening. "Come on, boy!" She called out, summoning Deathtrap to her side. "Focus on the shield!"

Krieg took out the loader bots as they came, keeping their numbers down. Gaige focused on the shield and DT did a bit of both. After what felt like a lifetime, the constructor bot's shield came down just as DT's energy did. "Come on.." She rushed herself to grab her rocket launcher and take aim when she heard something. Turning to look, several loader bots had surrounded Krieg, and while he was able to take out most of them, a couple were opening fire on him while another swung at him. There was a click as he pulled the trigger and nothing came out. He was out of ammo.

"Save man!" Krieg shouted when he saw her hesitate. "Help him!" Roland called from where he was held prisoner. Gaige looked between the two, Krieg swinging with his buzzaxe as he fought off the loaders. "Fuck. Fuckfuckfuck." Pulling the trigger, she hoped it would hit its mark before she abandoned the gun on the ground, running towards Krieg. Grabbing her assault rifle, she began to take the bots out. "Take this!" She tossed the rifle to her partner, who caught it easily in one of his large hands.

Grabbing her pistol, she turned to look at the constructor. It was sparking and the sounds it made were promising on their end, but it was still moving. The two opened fire on it, the sparks growing bigger as it began to tremble. Roland, finally able to move ran towards the vault hunters. "Get down!" One of his muscular arms wrapped around Gaige's waist, lifting her as if she weighed nothing. The other grabbed at Krieg and yanked him down. The three fell in a pile behind a banged up vehicle as the large constructor exploded.

"Thanks dude." Gaige said as she watched fiery pieces of the bot fly by overhead. "You two saved me and will save many other lives. I owe you." Roland spoke as he sat up, dusting off his uniform. Krieg lay there for a few moments, staring at where his arm was bleeding. "Losing blood.." He chuckled to himself. Roland looked a little concerned. "Don't mind him. You get used to it." The small redhead reassured as she grabbed at her abandoned guns.

Once the area was thoroughly looted and any money or weapons were taken, the three began towards the fast travel. Unfortunately, it was quite a walk away. Deathtrap didn't have the energy to come and carry the tired girl, causing her to let out a long whine when she glanced at her echo. "Someone carry me. I don't think I'm gonna make it." She whined playfully as she kicked at a rock. "We're almost there." Roland reassured the others. Without warning, a strong arm wrapped around her waist. "Whoa! I was just kidding!" Her feet lifted off the ground as Krieg hoisted her into his shoulder much like DT would do.

He kept one arm around her legs to help steady her as they walked. Gaige kept her mecha hand braced on his arm, her flesh hand right beside her on his shoulder. The two were bloodied, a mix of their own blood and others, cuts, scrapes and dirt mixing in with the red. They were tired and bruised and battered. But they were in this together. Even if it meant dragging the other across the finish line. Or in this case, carry.

Taking the chance, Gaige grabbed her echo, calling Tannis. The moment she answered, Gaige spoke up. "We have Roland. We'll be in soon. Where do you want us to take him?" There was a gentle exchange of words in the background. "HQ will work. See you in a bit."

Shoving her echo away, the fast travel finally came into sight. "I can walk from here." Gaige slowly removed her hand from his shoulder as she leaned more into his support. Krieg kneeled down, letting Gaige easily hop down from where she sat. At first her legs protested, aching and nearly giving out under her. Gently grabbing onto Krieg's arm, she steadied herself for the first few steps until she could walk easier. Coming up to the machine, she tapped on it and selected Sanctuary as the boys came up behind her.

When they came into Sanctuary, Lilith was waiting for them, arms crossed. Gaige prepared herself to argue back or something, but the siren seemed completely oblivious to the vault hunters. "Roland." His name rolled off her tongue as she looked up at him. "Thanks for sending them to come get me. I don't know how much longer they would've kept me alive." He pulled her into a tight hug. Gaige watched the two interact, feeling like she was watching something she shouldn't be.

"We're gonna go home. Looks like you've got it from here." She slowly began to backup towards the gates of the town. Lilith let out a soft laugh. "We should get you three to Zedd and make sure you're all okay." The three quickly protested. "I'm fine. We need to figure out how to put a bullet in Jack's head instead of worrying about a few tiny cuts." Lilith shook her head. "We need to make sure everyone's okay first."

"I can't speak for Roland, but I can speak for Krieg and myself when I say most of the blood on us is not ours. Just a few scrapes a band aid can't fix. So, we're going home." Not giving Lilith time to respond, Gaige quickly jogged into Sanctuary, Krieg close behind her.

The mechromancer didn't waste any time once they were home. She kicked off her shoes and disappeared into her bedroom, slowly peeling off her bloodied leggings. "Krieg!" She called out as she stepped into the hall. The Psycho looked at her from the living room. "Come to the bathroom." She instructed, grabbing a small washcloth. At first, he hesitated, but walked into the small room where she was sitting on the counter. "Let me see your arm." Without letting him have much of a say, she grabbed his arm, gently wiping away the blood and dirt from a scrape near his shoulder. The sheer size of his muscles alone was intimidating, her hand much smaller in comparison. As she gently wiped away the dirt and blood, she noted how smooth his skin was. It was tan from time under the sun, but was just as smooth as her own.

Krieg was tense under her touch, almost as if it made him nervous or anxious. Yet, she didn't stop and continued to gently wash any scrapes or cuts that he had, not that there were many. Putting a couple band aids on the worse off ones, she dropped the dirty washcloth into the sink. "There you go. All done." She swung her legs against the counter with a proud smile. He stared at one of the band aids, then at her. His large, tan hand took the washcloth and with a very surprising, gentle touch he began to clean off her knees. Gaige was about to protest, but decided not to and instead, propped herself up on her hands with a soft smile.

One hand alone was almost large enough to wrap around her calf as he held her leg still, foot propped on his knee. His hands were calloused and rough. It was surprising to see him be so gentle with her. When her knees were washed off, he moved to her arm. Gaige had a handful of cuts and scrapes, most being a product of her tumbling off the roof. When he was done, he set the washcloth on the counter beside her and walked out the room, leaving her alone to shower.


	5. Chapter 5

[[ I'm glad to bring you guys chapter 5! I'm happy to see so many of you enjoying the story and reading yalls feedback. I just have a quick note about Krieg. I am gonna take him into a slightly different direction here soon. I've read way too much about the characters and I know in his backstory, he used to be a normal guy but something happened to make him the Krieg we all know and love. However, the normal guy is still a voice in his head that has some sort of say and influence in game. That's why he doesn't kill any good guys. It's also why, if anyone has ever played as him or seen someone play as him, he randomly attacks himself. He wants to kill the voice and just well go insane. Anyways, he's still gonna be Krieg, but I'm going to give that voice more power over him at times. That's why he's more aware of things and is able to say things not related to blood and such. Next chapter, hopefully it'll make more sense. Anyways, hope you enjoy!]]

Gaige groaned as she shifted around, sunlight shining much too brightly against her closed eyes. She wanted to sleep longer, her body sore and achey, but something told her sleep wasn't going to come back very easily. Her hand began to search for her blankets as she burrowed into the warmth of her bed. Well, at least what she thought was her bed until it moved. Her eyes snapped open as she quickly moved away, prepared to fight. Taking a deep breath to calm her pounding heart, Gaige was relieved to see that the movement was from Krieg and not someone dangerous. Looking around, still in a sleepy confusion, she noticed they were still in the living room. They both must've fallen asleep on the couch before the Psycho could carry her to bed.

Slowly and carefully, she was about to get up and move to her room, but part of her wanted to stay. Krieg was warm and she just kind of wanted to curl back into his side. Better judgement told her not to, but it was too late. Krieg started to wake up and was greeted with the small redhead too close and staring at him, not that she realized she was. One hand quickly pushed her away before he jumped up and made his way towards his room. Gaige could feel her face light up dark red as she fell back, sprawled over the couch. "Krieg! I had just woke up, I wasn't trying to be weirdo!" Her words merged together as she tried to explain what had happened, but she was sure all she did was dig her grave deeper.

Hearing his door close, she sighed and let her head fall back onto the armrest. "Great…" After several moments of him not returning, she forced herself up off the couch and to get dressed. She didn't have any missed calls from Tannis on her echo, but Gaige decided to go pay them a visit anyways. It also got her away from making any more of a fool of herself.

Walking up to the large door of the HQ, Gaige could hear voices inside and smell the fresh coffee lingering in the air. "Smells like I'm right on time!" Gaige burst in through the door, looking around the sleepy room. Lilith was pouring freshly brewed coffee into a large mug while Tannis and Roland looked over the map. Mordecai was nowhere to be found. "What do you want?" The siren sounded like she had just woken up, holding the now full mug between both hands. "Came to see what you have for us." Without asking if she could have some, Gaige made her way to the coffee maker, pouring herself a cup. It had been much too long since she had any of the bitter drink.

"We actually do have something for you." Roland pushed some papers aside, his finger searching across the map for something that only he could spot. "You do?" She made her way to his side, resting an arm on his shoulder. "I have an old friend out there. I've saved her life once or twice and she's saved mine more then I could count. She's an explosives expert. I need you to find her at her workshop to pick up some explosives we're going to need for this. There's a Hyperion train coming down the tracks and my sources say it's carrying a vault key to jack. We need to take it, but to do that we need some massive fire power to take it down so you two can get in. Tina can help us in that department. I'll call ahead and let her know I'm sending you over." Gaige took a long drink of the coffee, letting it spread through her veins. "What's her name?"

Roland chuckled softly. "Tiny Tina. Don't let the name fool you though. Let me give her a call before you two head out. It's best if she knows ahead of time." As he spoke, Gaige looked over the map. Words that were sloppily written spotted the page. Large red circles enclosed different areas. Arrows and red pins bounced around. She wanted to know what it all meant, but Roland was moving to stand before she could ask. "Enjoy your morning. I'll call you around noon when she's ready."

Sneaking her cup of coffee out with her, Gaige wandered out into the morning sun. The light warmed her just enough while the cool breeze hugged her body. Staring into the mug, she sighed. She couldn't go home and face Krieg just yet, but there wasn't much else to do. Wandering the still sleepy streets, she somehow ended up at the doors to Moxxi's. Music was already playing loudly through the few open windows. Moxxi stood behind the bar, polishing off a glass while Mordecai drank from a beer bottle at the end of the bar. So that's where he was. Ignoring the hunter, Gaige took a seat towards the center of the bar.

"Mornin, sugar." Moxxi offered the younger girl a smile. "Morning." She set the now empty coffee cup on the clean bar. "What brings you in so early?" The older woman took the coffee cup and replaced it with a glass of orange juice. Gaige hoped it was just orange juice. "Just trying to pass the time. Roland won't have anything for us until like noon and home- well home isn't much of an option." Taking an experimental sip, she was pleased to find that it was only juice. "Still having issues getting along with Krieg?" Moxxi leaned over the bar.

"No, not really. We actually get along. Sort of. I mean, he kinda does his own thing, but we fight well together and he's a good guy. Just rough around the edges." She took a quick drink from her glass. "But I think I creeped him out. I didn't mean to, it just kinda happened." Moxxi raised a brow. "What happened?" Glancing around, Gaige made sure the Psycho hadn't wandered in. Just to be safe.

"Well, I guess we both fell asleep on the couch last night. He normally carries me to my room if I fall asleep, but he fell asleep before he could. When I woke up, I realized it and was going to get up, but- well you know how you start thinking or something and don't realize you're staring at someone?" Moxxi nodded. "Well I kinda got lost in thought and I guess I was staring at him. He woke up and caught me. Now he probably thinks I was watching him sleep." The older woman let out a soft, melodic laugh. "It could be worse. I'm sure he doesn't think you're creepy or weird. You just got really embarrassed. It'll blow over. Promise." Taking another drink of her juice, Gaige shrugged. "I hope so."

Moxxi glanced over at Mordecai who was still at the end of the bar, drinking his beer. "Trust me, things could be worse." Gaige curiously followed her glance. "Are things worse between you two?" The woman smiled, grabbing another beer from behind the bar. Popping off the cap, she took it down to the hunter before returning to Gaige. "It's a long story, sugar. One for another time."

While she was curious, Gaige decided not to press the matter any further. The two women continued to make small talk, passing the time. Two glasses of juice later, she stood up, stretching. Moxxi had been preparing a drink for a customer who had just walked in, taking the money before going back to Gaige.

"Heading out?" The redhead nodded.

"Yea, it's almost noon and I should let Krieg know we have something about to come up." The two girls said their goodbyes before Gaige finally left, making her way home. She was sure Krieg thought she was some weirdo and wouldn't want to be near her. From making idiotic jokes to the incident this morning, he had every reason to. Slowly, she opened the door to their house and peeked inside. The Psycho sat on the couch, cleaning off his buzzaxe. Bloody paper towels littered the coffee table, a few on the floor. Walking in, she closed the door a bit loudly, hoping he would hear her. Whether or not he did, Gaige wasn't sure.

"So Roland should be getting back to us here soon." Gaige announced out loud. He turned to look at her, his hands stopping what they were doing. "There's some girl named Tina that we have to go talk to, but he said he had to let her know we were going to go up there first. Should be any minute now."

Krieg went back to his previous task as Gaige hesitantly sat down on the other end of the couch. He didn't move away or seem to have any protests really. She let out a mental sigh of relief. At least he wasn't completely mortified about it all, unlike Gaige. Several moments of uncomfortable silence hung between them. Shifting around in her seat, for once Gaige didn't know what to say. Did she bring it up or just let it be? Just as her thoughts began to assault her, her echo rang. Without hesitation, she gladly tapped the screen.

"Okay, she's ready for you two." Roland's voice carried over the device. "I'll give you the coordinates to her workshop, shouldn't be too much of a challenge to get there. Try to hurry, what we need these explosives for is very time sensitive and we won't get a second try if you fuck up." Gaige kicked her feet up onto the coffee table.

"What do we need them for?" Her curiosity burned at her mind.

"I'll explain later. For now just go to Tina and get those explosives." With that said, her echo flicked to black before lighting up once again. A small message flashed at the top of the screen. 'New coordinates received.' Tapping on the message, the map pulled up. The entire area of Pandora opened before it zoomed in on the Tundra Express, a square marking their destination. Tundra. Great, more snow and gross cold.

"Looks like we can fast travel to the area and drive to her." Gaige stood up as she scanned the area. Krieg was already strapping his axe back to its spot before gathering the paper towels. The redhead disappeared to her room to grab her guns and ammo before coming back. She didn't bother to stop and ask Krieg if he was ready, instead heading directly out the front door and towards the fast travel. Luckily, he was already armed and ready to go, staying close to her heels.

Snow. It had to be an area with snow of all things. Not that it would be that bad if it wasn't so cold. Gaige had abandoned her guns to their holsters, hugging herself to preserve any warmth she had left. The outrunner, while not providing a whole lot of warmth, was better than trudging along the snowy paths on foot. The snow was light, just leaving everything under a thin blanket of white. The pathway they walked was almost cave like, large landmine like objects outlining the path. Gaige wasn't sure if they would actually blow up, but she wasn't going to test them any time soon.

Krieg led the way, gun ready in case anything jumped out, only slowing down when a small red workshop like structure came into sight. "That has to be it." Gaige finally spoke as they made their way down towards it. As soon as she spoke, a small girl with short blonde hair hopped out from behind what looked like a large table with a tea party set up on it. A bandaid was placed over the bridge of her nose and a Psycho mask strapped to the side of her head. A kid? Did Roland seriously send them to a kid for help?

"Are you Tina?" Gaige quickly walked ahead of Krieg, the girl now looking at the vault hunters as she bounced on the heels of her mismatched shoes. The girl smiled a toothy grin before speaking.

"I am! Roland said you would be coming. I still owe him for all that buttcrap with General Rancid. So you two are trying to hijack a train huh? Child's play." Tina's voice was full of joy and each word sounded more excited then the previous. "Let me introduce you to my ladies." Turning quickly, arms swinging around as she did, she ran to the workshop. Pulling a lever by the door, it quickly began to raise up revealing the inside. It wasn't too big, but not too small either. Off to one side sat a large workbench with parts scattered around, a chair tucked under the side of it. Shelves lines the walls full of tools and pieces of explosives. Between the shelves was an unmade bed and on the table beside it, a picture. Krieg followed Tina while Gaige became curious. Straying towards the picture, she looked at it. Roland sat smiling, Tina practically hanging off his right shoulder, smiling just as big as she was now.

"This is Mushy Snugglebites-" Tina's voice interrupted Gaige's inspection, causing her to turn her attention to the younger girl. She had stopped at the furthest back shelf, two large stuffed rabbits slouching on the top. Stuffed animals? Roland had to be joking with all of this. "-and this is Felicia Sexopants. These fine ass womens could stop that train for you, but Ima need their badonkadonks back first and those got stolded by the bandits a few days ago. Go get 'em!" Gaige was about to question the whole thing when Tina interrupted. "Nap time!" She plopped onto the bed, snuggling into the blankets.

Gaige stood there, staring at the younger girl, mouth open with unasked questions. Glancing up at Krieg, she was glad to see that he at least looked as confused as she did behind his mask. "Umm.." Slowly, she walked backwards towards the door before finally walking outside, Krieg following behind. Once they were far enough for Gaige to feel comfortable enough to question it all, she grabbed her echo.

"Roland, what the hell?" She honestly had no words for the encounter.

"What? I didn't do anything." He quickly defended over the device.

"She's a child and was talking about stuffed animals like they're people!" Gaige threw her arms in the air.

"I told you, don't underestimate her. She's a big boom in a small package. Just do what she told you and hurry. We are on a bit of a time limit."

Gaige shook her head. She just couldn't understand the whole thing. "She didn't even tell us what bandit camp to find the stuff at." Just as she spoke, a small message flashed at the top of the screen. New coordinates received. Well, one problem down. The two vault hunters piled into the outrunner and quickly made their way to the Buzzard Academy.

The academy was a whole other problem in itself. The bandits, they could handle. The buzzards flying in the air, opening fire on the vault hunters were a different story. They were fast and tough, making it hard to aim. Deathtrap could only handle so many on his own before even he was becoming overwhelmed by the seemingly endless numbers. Much to Gaige's surprise, the 'badonkadonks' they had been sent to fetch were actually bombs. Well more like missiles. Krieg carried both in his arms, hiding from buzzards now that the ground forces were gone. Gaige was trying to shoot them down from higher ground, or at least keep their attention until the Psycho could make it out. The sheer size of the two explosives were answer enough as to how powerful they were. Couldn't risk them or the mission because of a lucky shot. Or Krieg's life. Yea his life either.

"Come on, boy!" Gaige's voice carried through the buzz of the buzzards, Deathtrap appearing at her side. The robot immediately lifted into the air, going after the small planes. Gaige quickly ran for cover, hiding behind a stack of boxes as she kept an eye on Krieg. Once the Psycho cleared the gates, she knew she could finally make her break for it. Hoping DT could keep them busy long enough for her to get out, she sprinted towards the steps, clearing two at a time. Gunfire followed close at her back, close enough for her to feel the snow taking the impact fly up into her legs and down her shoes. "Shit. Shit shit." The single word left her lips over and over as she tried to run faster. A small explosion behind her ended the gunfire. Letting out a sigh of relief, the outrunner pulled up in front of the gate, Krieg in the driver seat and both explosives in the gunner.

With no time to try and rearrange and wiggle herself into the gunner seat, Gaige had to think quickly. Jumping up onto the steps she normally used to climb up, she braced her feet into them before grabbing the rail that surrounded the bucket of the gunner seat. Her metal fingers closed tightly around it before she shouted at Krieg to drive. The sound of more buzzards arriving could be heard, her echo beeping soon after. DT was down to his last moments of energy and all she could do was hope it was enough for them to get away.

Wind whipped at Gaige's body, stinging her eyes and sending her pigtails into small flurries of hair. Between Krieg's speed and the bumps In the uneven ground, she was sure she would fall. Tightening her grip, the small bar almost bent to form to her mechanical hand. It wasn't until the sound of buzzards in the sky had faded for several yards that she finally relaxed.

"Pull over!" She called over the wind, hoping that he would hear her. There was no way she would be able to make the entire trip to Tina's in her current position. After a few moments, the outrunner began to slow until it finally lurched to a stop. Unwrapping her fingers, she hopped down, slowly unbending and bending them several times. Making a mental note, she knew she was going to have to ask Scooter for some oil to help out the small joints.

Krieg didn't say a word nor move, simply waited for Gaige to reposition herself. There was an eerie calmness to him as she climbed back up the small steps, trying to figure something out. Almost like sitting there, covered in bandit blood was comforting to him. In battle, he was all weapons waving around and shouts of meat and blood, but now he was almost the opposite of that. Strange. Forcing her focus back to the task at hand, she began to struggle to find a way to get herself to fit in the small bucket seat. Even with her being so petite, finding a comfortable way to fit between the two explosives was nearly impossible, but she refused to give up. A quick call to Tina was placed during the struggle, the young girl sounding all too excited about the explosives being found. The call ended with the explosives expert instructing the vault hunters to bring them back to her so she could make the 'fine ass damsels' that would help them.

Finding no physical way for herself to fit in the bucket of the gunner seat with the explosives, or any physical way to make even just one fit into the driver seat with the driver, Gaige had to give in. She hated it. Not just because she didn't like being a quitter, but because her only remotely safe option that didn't involve one of the two hanging off the side of the vehicle was her on his lap. Her expression was infinitely less than amused while his was hidden behind the mask.

Gaige had reluctantly perched her petite form onto Krieg's much larger one. He had one arm secured around her waist to keep her from moving around with the movement of the vehicle, the other pressed awkwardly to his side. The redhead held the steering wheel, though her feet hovered too high over the petals, resulting in Krieg having to control them. This wasn't safe. Not that any other option was safer, but all other options were less awkward. As if the morning wasn't enough, now she had to deal with this. She wiggled uncomfortably, not that his lap was uncomfortable, but the whole situation was. Why couldn't a skag just come along and eat her? Krieg's arm around her tightened and she was forced into remaining still.

They couldn't have arrived at Tina's fast enough to please Gaige, the redhead not even waiting for the vehicle to come to a complete stop before she was wiggling free from Krieg's hold and climbing out. The large vault Hunter carried the explosives to Tina, who promptly kicked them out to work. After several moments of listening to the young girl sing on the other side of the closed door, it soon opened up to reveal her standing between the two explosives, both towering over her.

"That's right. Twins." Tina seemed to be proud of her work, the only difference being that now the stuffed rabbits from earlier were now tied to the missiles. "Set them down near the choochoo tracks and they'll take care of the rest." Gaige thanked her as Krieg carefully lifted them into his arms so the two could be on their way.


	6. Chapter 6

[[Notes: This was technically part of chapter 5, but it made it insanely long, as it's already long by itself. I decided to split it into two chapters and give a little more focus and detail without making the chapter tedious. Hope you enjoy! Also I apologize for taking forever to update, life has been keeping me pretty busy ^^; I'll try and update a lot faster next time.]]

This trip, Gaige was even less satisfied. The two 'damsels' as Tina seemed to like them being called, took up the entirety of the bucket seat now, leaving Gaige no hope of fitting, even if she tried to sit on them. Instead, she was once again forced to share the driver seat. She had tried to make it work so they could sit side by side, or if she could even sit in front of him between his legs, but the room just wasn't there and they couldn't just toss around the explosives or it could cost them the entire mission. Despite her hatred of the current situation, she hated Jack just a bit more. As before, Gaige sat on Krieg's lap, steering as he controlled the petals. His arms were wrapped around her, keeping her small frame still against the jolts of the outrunner. Gaige wriggled ever so slightly, trying to get him to let go. She hated being restrained like this. Of course unless it was other situations. Then his large arms and hands could hold her down- wait. What was she thinking?! Glad she wasn't facing him, Gaige could feel her face light up as red as her hair. This couldn't get any worse.

Luckily, the coordinates that Roland sent them chasing after weren't too far and they were soon at the side of the tracks off in the distance. Gaige was all too glad to finally get back on solid ground, even if there was snow. Quickly climbing out of the awkward seating arrangements, Krieg began to unload the explosives. Gaige fished out her echo, calling Roland before pointing at a spot looking at the tracks. Krieg followed her finger and set them down.

"You two there?" Roland's voice chimed as a hello.

"Yea and we've got them unloaded. Do we just set them up and blow that track to pieces?" Gaige prodded the foot of one of the rabbits with her shoe.

"Yes and no. I need Krieg to report back to Sanctuary for a moment and you need to set up those explosives with the instructions I send so we can make sure they'll hit the target." Gaige raised a confused brow.

"Why do you need big guy? I thought this was a team effort and these things aren't exactly light." The redhead quickly argued back.

"It's just for twenty minutes. It'll take no longer, I promise. Now send him my way." Roland hung up before Gaige could protest anymore. With no other options at that point, Gaige sent Krieg and the outrunner to the nearest fast travel while she read the directions Roland sent to set up the explosives. Where to put them, how far apart and a rough angle. The petite girl kept telling herself if Tina could move them, so could she, but as she wrapped both arms around them she regretted her choices. With her mecha arm, it wasn't impossible, but what made it damn near close was trying to be gentle at the same time. She wasn't sure how sensitive they were and she really didn't want to find out.

By the time Gaige had both explosives set up just right, she heard the rumbling of a vehicle coming up behind her. She knew it was more then likely Krieg, but to be safe she grabbed her assault rifle. Sure enough, the Psycho pulled up in a technical, a box visible in the bed of the vehicle.

"Where's the outrunner?" Gaige called out, strapping her gun back into its holster on her lower back. Krieg started climbing out the large vehicle when Gaige's echo rang, interrupting her interrogation. Tapping at the screen, she didn't bother bringing it out the holder.

"Has Krieg arrived yet?" Roland's voice carried over what sounded like Lilith and Mordecai arguing in the background.

"Yea, he has. Did you tell him to bring the technical?" Gaige watched as the other vault hunter began to unload two boxes, one smaller than the other, but both of their contents a mystery.

"Yes, I did. You two will be staying the night there and need somewhere to sleep. The back of the cab has enough room for you to sleep in. The box-" Gaige didn't give him time to finish.

"Staying the night? What the hell do you mean staying the night out here? There's snow everywhere and there could be bandits at any time. Plus Hyperion!" She strayed a bit away from the technical, shouting in disbelief.

"You two can handle yourselves against any bandits and the technical is to protect you against the snow. Now if you let me finish, in one of the boxes is a couple cans of food and stuff to start and keep a fire going. In the other is a couple sleeping bags, blankets and a pillow. We aren't sure about the exact time of the trains arrival and if we take out the tracks too early, they'll send survey bots and get them repaired and it'll ruin the whole mission. It should be around five am when it shows up, but until then keep an eye on the explosives. We can't have anyone mess with them. Once The train is close enough to hear, let them go."

Gaige only half listened, huffing angrily. "So we're stuck out here for the night?" Before Roland could respond, two voices could be heard loudly in the background. One, a female voice, sounded vaguely like it asked where Gaige was. Fishing her echo out of its holder to get a better listen, the female voice spoke again, but closer.

"Gaige? Is that Gaige?" There was movement like the echo was being passed around. "Gaige! Where are you?" There was no mistaking the source of the voice. Maya sounded slightly concerned, but more curious than anything. The redhead could only assume the other new voice shouting "hi" in the background belonged to Axton.

"I'm with Krieg at the tracks for Hyperion's train. Roland was just saying how we have to stay the night. Wait, how are you at sanctuary and why?" Gaige wandered back to the technical as she spoke, starting to poke through the contents of the boxes. Kindling, half a matchbook and three cans. Grabbing the cans one by one with her free hand, she checked the labels. Beans, some kind of cactus fruit and more beans. Sounded great.

"Axton and I have been helping out. We just finished the job we were on and returned thinking you two would be back already so we could catch up, but I guess that'll have to wait till tomorrow." Maya sounded disappointed as she spoke.

"Helping? I've been on every mission Tannis and Lilith have sent us on and I don't remember you and Axton being there." Dropping the cans back in the box, Gaige kicked up to sit on the hood of the technical.

"To be more exact-" Axton's voice carried through this time. "-we've been helping on other missions, but with the same goal. Who do do you think brought Mordecai here? He sure as hell doesn't live here. We all agreed it would be easier to split the workload between you and Krieg and me and Maya. We were trying to surprise you, but now the cat's outta the bag on that."

Gaige paused and thought on it. He was right, splitting the work between the two groups of vault hunters made sense. Made it easier so they wouldn't get worn down too fast. "Well, we can catch up tomorrow. I'll talk to you two later." Tucking her echo away, Gaige kicked the box of kindling and logs towards Krieg. "Find a dry enough spot near the technical to start a fire. I'll get our temporary bed made."

Krieg easily lifted the box towards a patch of ground that was bare of any snow and began to work. Gaige opened the side door to the technical and pushed the box inside before climbing in. The back was empty and covered, a direct view to the two seats and out the windshield straight ahead. There was enough room to sit and move around, but that was it. The floor was hard and uncomfortable, but much more favorable as opposed to the outside. At least this offered shelter and warmth. Knowing one of them would have to keep guard while the other slept, Gaige placed one sleeping bag down before laying the other on it. At least there would some sort of padding with it that way. The blankets were thin and worn, but better than nothing. She lay one over the sleeping bags and kept the other aside for whoever had to keep watch. Grabbing the pillow, she debated not using it. It was nearly flat and had been well used, but in the end, it was better than having to use her arms.

Sliding out the side door that she came in, she turned to see Krieg crouching near a now roaring fire. He glanced up at the mechromancer, but the way he looked at her was different. Was it something in his visible eye that looked different or was it just a trick of the flames? Judging it to be a trick of the flames, Gaige looked at the now half empty box. There were a couple packages of skag jerky with the cans. Skag meat was tough and didn't taste very good. Now more than ever, she regretted every burger and steak she took advantage of back home. Pulling out a can of beans, she used a screwdriver from her small emergency tool pouch to pry it open. "You hungry?" She looked over at Krieg from across the fire.

"MEAT!" He screamed in the same fashion he always did. Grabbing a package of jerky, she tossed it over to him. Catching it in one hand, he undid the bottom clasp of his mask. The mask flapped freely, though not enough for her to see his face underneath, but just enough for him to shove the jerky into his mouth. Gaige tossed the top of the can onto the ground, holding the can close enough to the flames to warm its contents, but not too close to burn herself. More than anything, her hand and the dented can were the only things to get hot and she quickly pulled it back. Taking in a mouthful, she stared at the fire.

Glancing at her Echo, she saw that it was nearly seven. Only ten hours to go. If they were going to split that, now would be the best time. "So-" she paused to swallow her food before speaking again. "For this to work out the way it needs to, we're going to have to take turns to sleep and stand guard. If you want-"

"-I can take the first guard." A gruff, deep voice finished her sentence. Nodding, Gaige was about to say that sounded great, that she would wake up around midnight so that both of them could get roughly five hours of rest and five hours of guard duty when it finally clicked in her mind. The voice belonged to Krieg. The Psycho who never did anything but shout and was nowhere near hushed, was speaking at a reasonable tone.

Very calmly, Gaige set her half empty can on the ground. "Um, what was that? I didn't quite catch what you said." Krieg repeated himself, not noticing that she was slowly reaching for her assault rifle. "Okay, so I heard right. Now one more question." The mechromancer quickly drew her gun, turning off the safety and pointing it directly between his eyes. "Who the fuck are you and what have you done with Krieg?"

The Psycho didn't seemed surprised by her reaction. He calmly raised his hands up in a surrender, half eaten package of jerky in one of his large hands. "I am Krieg, I swear. Just hear me out, Gaige." His voice was rough and tired, but there was a hint of sincerity in each word. Gaige placed her finger on the trigger, but gestured for him to continue with the assault rifle.

"It's a long and complicated story, one for another time, but I'm Krieg. The Krieg in here." He pressed a large finger to his shaved head. "I know it sounds strange, but the Psycho you know isn't me. Well it is me, but not me. I'm the real Krieg. Normally I'm just a voice in his head, like his conscience that tries to find the remaining humanity in him. Haven't you wondered why, despite the fact he finds pleasure in killing and blood, he never attacks anyone on your side? Why he's domesticated at home? Why he knows to carry you to bed? I have some influence on him. It's very slim, but there. I honestly didn't expect for this to happen though. I've only ever been able to take full control once and that was to speak to Maya."

At some point, Gaige lowered her gun as she listened. She didn't want his words to be true. She didn't want to believe him. He was a Psycho and nothing more, but now this meant he was like her. He was a human being like her. It was almost too much. The story was so far fetched, it couldn't be fake. No one knew half those things aside from them two. It was him. Krieg. "So Maya's known about this?" Her voice was soft, almost child like. "Why haven't you told anyone else?"

Krieg lowered his hands, shaking his head. "Can't. Like I said, he doesn't let me have control like this often. Very rarely. Almost never. Maya knows, but she swore not to tell. The others won't understand. You two understand me in a different way. You don't treat me like I'm just a murder machine that follows you around. You talk to me even though I don't always respond. Let me drive, let me do normal things. That's why I'm here. To let you know we appreciate it. It helps us feel like a normal person again. Just please, don't tell anyone about this." His final words began to struggle, almost as if he were slipping away.

In all truth, Gaige felt better. He didn't hate her and didn't think she was some weirdo. Krieg actually appreciated what she thought annoyed him. Laughing softly, she shook her head and finally put away her rifle. "Even if you told me to change, I wouldn't. I'm me and you take it or leave it. I promise I won't tell and I promise I won't change how I am around you." A special sense of pride bubbled in her chest. He trusted her. Both of them did and that was saying a lot for a Psycho.

"I'll try to talk to you again, but I might not ever be able to. He's unpredictable. Thank you, Gaige. For every-" his words were cut off and the gleam in his visible eye changed. "NIPPLE SALAD!" He shrieked before shoving the remaining jerky into his mouth, package and all. Krieg was gone and the one she knew was back. It would be their secret and she kinda liked having it to hold.

Seven came and went. Gaige spent the time laying in the sleeping bag for warmth, staring at the roof above her. The technical kept some warmth inside the closed cab, but it was still cool. She could only imagine outside. Krieg was hesitant to take the extra blanket when offered to him, but ultimately took it before taking guard in the bed of the vehicle. Inside, she was still fully clothed, shoes by the door and guns within reach. Just in case. On Pandora, one never knew what might happen. Always be prepared for anything. Even a Psycho talking to you.

After her conversation with Krieg, her mind was going a million miles an hour. So he didn't think she was weird or a creep. That was a relief. Maybe they were closer than she thought. Dare she even say they were becoming good friends? Sleep evaded her and more than anything, she wanted to talk to Maya about it. Gaige knew with Krieg so close by and fully awake, that would be a bad idea. So instead, she found a comfortable position on the hard floor of the cab and lay there until sleep finally took her into strange dreams that she wouldn't remember.

The sudden hollow knocks against metal jolted Gaige awake. The redhead shot up, the waking world spinning around her sleeping mind. Looking around confused, it wasn't until she saw Krieg's back through the small window of the door, she realized he had to be who woke her. Blindly grabbing her echo, the much too bright screen only blinded her further. It was a few minutes past midnight. It was her turn to stand guard. Rubbing the remaining sleep from her eyes, Gaige wiggled out from the covers before kicking the door open. Krieg jumped slightly at the sudden sound, turning to face her.

"One sec." She quickly slid on her shoes before gathering her guns. The outside air was much colder and it took all her self control to keep from just burrowing back into the makeshift bed. It wouldn't be fair to Krieg though, so she forced herself to slide out and to the ground. Without missing a beat, he climbed in as soon as she cleared the doorway and shut the door behind him. With the cold air stinging at her bare skin, Gaige couldn't blame him. Taking her pistol out of the holster and bringing it close, she checked on the explosives before rounding the tactical to find the dying embers of the flame. Taking one of the final logs from the box, she prodded at it and dropped it in, the flames springing back to life.

With the fire giving her some sort of warmth, she climbed up into the bed. A light smile tugged at her lips when she saw the blanket pooled into a large cocoon. So he had used it. Sitting in the middle, she pulled the worn material to her body, keeping her pistol on her lap. The occasional breeze was cold and stung her eyes, making her pull the blanket closer. With a few holes scattered along, it didn't do much more than give her false hope that she would somehow stay warm. Scooting a bit closer to the fire, Gaige could hear Krieg moving around inside the cab. He was almost a foot taller than her, she could only imagine how uncomfortable it was for him.

An hour or so passed before Krieg fell asleep, or Gaige could only assume he did by the lack of sound and movement. Taking the chance of loneliness, she freed her echo and tapped on the screen. "Please answer.." She mumbled to herself, the blue screen ringing. The ringing finally ended and a sleepy 'hello' followed the silence. "Maya, are you free to talk?"

There was a soft yawn followed by movement against sheets. "Well, I was sleeping, but not anymore. Is something wrong?" Maya quietly stood from her small bottom bunk that was tucked under Axton's as she spoke. Grabbing the commando's jacket that was forgotten on the back of a nearby chair, she slid it on before going out onto the balcony of the Crimson Raiders HQ.

Gaige shook her head, bringing her knees up to her chest. "No. Not really. I just- how long have you known about Krieg? Actual Krieg that talks, not blood obsessed Krieg." Her voice lowered, almost afraid that the Psycho would wake up and appear behind her. Maya knew, so technically she wasn't breaking the promise. Right? There was an awkward silence as both girls sat in the Pandoran night.

Finally, Maya spoke up. The siren's voice was soft as she looked around, making sure no wandering ears could overhear her. "A while, I guess. It was a few months after we met and he joined our vault hunting group. Everyone else just kind of pushed him aside, but I would always talk to him. One day I was telling him about where I was from and how different Pandora was from home. Mid story, he spoke to me. We spent the rest of the night talking." Gaige listened to her friend speak, looking around just to be cautious.

"So you spoke all night?" Was she actually a little jealous about that? "I only got like ten minutes. All he said was he appreciated how I treated him. Never like he was just there, but like he was as responsive as you are. Then he said he had to go. Not that he had much of a choice. I just- I didn't want him to be telling the truth. I wanted it to be a lie or even someone pretending to be him." Gaige finally confessed what had been at the back of her mind.

"What do you mean?" Maya sat on the edge of the balcony, bracing herself back on one hand.

"I didn't want to know he was somebody. That his mind worked like mine and he actually didn't hate me. If I was with you or Axton or hell, even Zer0, I know you guys are like me. A human being. We're going on a mission to kill Jack. Handsome motherfucking Jack. The chances of someone not dieing are slim to none. If it was one of you guys, I would do something stupid to protect you or I would never get over it. With him, he was just another Psycho. One of the hundreds out there we fight daily, but now-" The words poured out of her mouth without her being able to stop them. Every fear and worry about the newfound secret of her friend, she knew what was wrong with it. "-now I know. He's like me. He's like you, Axton, Lilith and everyone else. He's a friend and that's what scares me. Now I can't keep myself from doing stupid stuff if he gets into trouble." She cared. Being able to shrug off Krieg as a Psycho, a bandit, barely human, she was able to distance the feeling. Now it changed.

"Gaige, there's no need to worry. I know, it's strange. You meet him and he's like every other Psycho out there with a one track mind for killing. Then you find out he isn't. You kill them, but befriend him. It's like eating a burger in front of a cow. It doesn't feel right, but you somehow know it is. He's a friend. He's one of us. A vault Hunter. We're all in this together. You and I just have a special friendship with him. A silent understanding and all we can do is go with it." Gaige knew Maya was right. She was so quick to befriend the other vault hunters, even Zer0 and his secrecy, so why was Krieg so different? Maybe it was just that he is a Psycho or maybe it was that she lived with him. Did things with him daily and had certain little daily rituals with him. The fact that she was so close to someone that was a person. That's what scared her.

The two girls spoke for a while longer before saying their goodbyes. Gaige sat in the quiet, keeping her eyes scanning around the area. The cold air was still and quiet, only the fire keeping her company. It was nice, but it made the mechromancer want to drift back to sleep. She dozed off for a minute or two before she forced herself to move around. Standing up, she walked around the fire a couple times before sitting back down. Distracting her tired eyes with her echo, the remaining hours of the night slowly passed. She was deeply entranced in one of her shows when the sound of a train horn in the distance nearly caused her to topple over. It wasn't even 4:30.

"Shit!" Dropping the blanket onto the snowy ground, she smacked her mecha hand against the door repeatedly until she heard movement inside. "Krieg! It's time!" She shouted through the small window. Running over to the explosives, she stopped. Tina never told her how to detonate them. Great. Feeling blindly around with her flesh hand, she couldn't find anything. Resting her hand on one of the rabbits, she was about to call Tina when there was a light beeping. Taking a few steps back, Gaige had just backed up right on time before both explosives flew off into the distance. Krieg came up behind the redhead, just in time to see one of the explosives crash into the tracks while the other faded into the distance.

Another explosion followed, close enough to hear, but far enough they couldn't see. Before they could react, two train cars came tumbling down into the valleys below, three more cars that managed to stay connected rolling over the destroyed tracks, creating a makeshift bridge. Gaige knew she should probably call Roland and let him know, but he was more than likely still sleeping. Plus, they had to hurry. Who knew how long it would be before Hyperion were swarming like skags around a dead body? Grabbing her assault rifle and loading a bullet into the chamber, she glanced back at Krieg. "Ready?"

The vault hunters made their way up the train bridge fairly easily, though not too quickly. By the time they reached the top of the plateau, the first rays of light were beginning to shine just behind the horizon. It had to be at least five by now. Hopefully they weren't too late. Side by side, Krieg and Gaige began down the path in front of them. There were train cars scattered along the path, some were empty and others had a few things of some worth. Loader bots would come out from the wreckage as they passed by, but most were damaged and didn't put up too much of a fight.

Reloading their guns, the path opened up to a large, open area. More train cars were scattered about, some more intact than others. "We need to open up these train cars." Gaige started walking towards the nearest train car, the ground starting to tremble as she did. Quickly turning and looking over at Krieg, a very large loader bot came from the wreckage. "Oh no…"

Running for cover behind one of the train cars, a small survey bot began to circle the large loader, putting up a shield around it. Something told Gaige this was going to make that constructor bot from last week look like child's play and she was right. Between having to take out the consistent survey bots and the seemingly endless shields and loaders crawling from the wreckage around them like zombies, her and Krieg were definitely kept busy.

"Gaige? Gaige has the train come yet?" Roland's voice suddenly came from the echo at her hip. Trying to take out the smaller survey bot as she ran, Gaige slid behind one of the train cars.

"Yea. It has and I'm kind of busy at the moment trying not to die. I'll call you back when we're done." She dropped the empty magazine from her assault rifle before expertly sliding a new one in its place. Just as it clicked into place, the train car began to move from its place, revealing the redhead kneeling down. "Fuck!" She began to run for cover once again as the same car came flying at her.

"You didn't let me know?! Gaige, you were supposed to let me know it was there!" Roland didn't sound pleased.

"I knew you would be asleep!" Gaige quickly defended before popping up from her hiding spot. Taking aim, she quickly took out the smaller not. "Shields down!" She called out to Krieg before the two began to assault the powerful bot with gunfire. Roland continued to shout, but she didn't pay much attention. She could always deal with him later. Running towards Krieg, Gaige quickly reloaded her gun when the bot began to spark. They had finally done it.

"Get down, bro!" With all her power behind her legs, Gaige somehow managed to tackle the much larger Psycho hard enough to bring them down behind one of the train cars just in time to see parts of if flying over head. That would've hurt. Sitting up from where she had fallen at his side, Gaige rubbed her sore arm that had met with Krieg's body. It was almost like tackling a brick wall. "Come on, let's look for that key."

After what felt like forever, their search turned up nothing. No vault key. Tapping on her echo without pulling it away from her hip, she called Roland. Before he could even speak, she cut him off. "There's no vault key here! We've turned over every fucking rock and there's nothing. Who the hell are your sources? You might want new ones." She kicked open another train car only for it to be empty as all the others were.

"Have you checked every train car?" Roland grasped at straws. Maybe they had missed something.

"Checked in them, on them, and under-" her words were cut off by a sharp and familiar laughter.

"You actually thought I would put a vault key on a train that was so easy to hijack? That's hilarious!" Jack's words were laced with laughter as he spoke. "I see you managed to take out Wilhelm. That's irritating, but I still can't believe you actually thought there would be a vault key! God, you are stupid!"

Gaige clenched her fists. Jack's voice echoed loudly, Krieg's echo picking up the transmission as well. He must've taken over the communications between the vault hunters and Crimson raiders. That was going to cause some problems. "Jack, go fuck yourself." Gaige swung her metal fist into the side of the nearest train car, making a sizeable dent in the sturdy side.

"If I would, I could. You know you would too." Jack laughed a bit harder. Gaige cringed. She would never want to sleep with Jack. She didn't even want to think about it. "So, I guess I underestimated you and your little friends. My mistake. Well, now you've upgraded from little nuisance to full grown annoyance. Promotion time! Now, let's talk about pay." Jack paused for a few moments. "There's a group of vault hunters running around, causing more trouble than they're worth. If anyone can bring me them, they'll be rewarded. Bring them in dead and I'll give you their bounty. Alive and I'll double it. Try to pull any tricks and I'll kill you personally. Now get to it and bring me those vault hunters!"

Gaige looked over at Krieg. Great. Now everyone on Pandora would be looking for them. At least everyone that was already trying to kill them. Sighing, she kicked at a piece of the bot she assumed to be named Wilhelm. "So now we're even more wanted."

"We need to regroup. Don't let Jack get to you, he's just playing mind games." Roland tried to reassure the vault hunter, voices of distress going on in the background. "Is there anything there we could use?"

Gaige raised a brow when she spotted something in the remnants of the bot. "Hey, Krieg help me move this." Setting her gun in its holster, Gaige began to move the parts, Krieg coming to her side and easily moving the larger ones. In the middle of it all was a large power core, the word HYPERION in big yellow letters along the side. "I think we found a power core. Dunno if it's useful, but looks undamaged and expensive."

Lilith said something in the background. "Bring it back to HQ. We could use that for our shields for Sanctuary, the ones we have are kind of running low. Without shields we're good as dead."

Krieg easily lifted the large object, Gaige armed with her gun just to be safe. Not that they expected anything to jump out at them anymore, but on Pandora you just never knew. The walk back to their tactical seemed further and longer then the walk from it and Gaige could feel exhaustion settling in her body. Each step was a drag and she was honestly almost tempted to roll down the makeshift bridge.

Not soon enough, the technical came into sight. "Just put the power core in the back where we slept." Gaige opened the side door for Krieg, who placed the object on top of their sleeping bags before shutting the door. The small redhead was too tired to drive and slid into the passenger seat, pulling the seatbelt across her body and plopping her feet up on the dashboard. Honestly, she didn't care if he drove them off a cliff at this point, she just wanted some sleep. The engine rumbled to life as her eyes fell shut, drifting in and out of a light sleep. If one could even call it sleep.

"The pain goes HERE!" Krieg suddenly shouted, his hand slamming on the horn. Gaige jumped, nearly smacking her head into the window as she was pulled back into reality. The large gates of sanctuary were slowly opening in front of them. Krieg pulled the technical off to the side, climbing out to unload the power core. Gaige rubbed any lingering sleep from her eyes, groaning as she unbuckled herself. She knew she had to go talk to Roland, but part of her just wanted to go straight to bed. Dragging slightly behind the Psycho, she followed him to HQ, her mind set on her bed.


	7. Chapter 7

[[NOTES: I really didn't intend for the ending of the chapter to be so squishy, but my Spotify made me do otherwise ^^;. I hope you guys enjoy!]]

When the vault hunters arrived at the HQ, they were promptly bombarded with questions from Tannis and Lilith while Roland took the power core. Maya charged from downstairs and nearly tackled Gaige with a welcoming hug before giving Krieg one as well. Axton was still tucked away in bed upstairs, sleeping the morning away, which Gaige was jealous of. After regrouping and discussing what happened as well as what they were going to do about Jack, the pair finally returned to their home. Neither of them bothered to eat or shower, simply just falling into their beds and falling asleep.

Gaige was the first one awake, showering then preparing a more proper(ish) meal, a sandwich with slightly stale bread. Much better than what they had last night. She called Maya and let her know she could come over whenever she was ready. Plopping down onto the couch, she finally let herself relax into the worn cushions. Sounds of life could be heard from the hallway, followed by running water. Krieg must've just woken up.

The mechromancer was drifting in and out of a small nap when sudden banging at the door fully woke her up. Rolling off the couch, she smoothed out her clothing. "Coming!" She stumbled her way to the metal door, pulling it open to reveal Axton and Maya standing there. The siren looked rather excited, the commando not so much. "What crawled up your ass, stud muffin?" Gaige stepped aside, allowing the other two vault hunters inside. Maya glanced around before promptly flopping onto the couch, Axton looking around much more hesitantly.

"He's mad that you two got this place and we're stuck at HQ." Maya's words were laced with a small chuckle as she brought her feet up onto the table.

"It's not fair!" Axton pouted much like a child would. "They said 'there wasn't any more places available'. Now we're stuck sleeping in a room with like three other people and have you ever heard Mordecai snore?!" The large blonde huffed as he crossed his arms over his chest. Gaige, rolling her eyes and being the little pest to him she always was, pulled him into a hug.

"Oh, quit having a tantrum. If it'll make you feel better, you can always sleep on our couch if he snores too loud." Her head rested against his muscled chest as he uncrossed his arms. Finally giving in, Axton laughed softly and returned her hug. He could never stay irritated with her very long.

"I'm going to hold you to that offer, sweetheart." Gaige and Axton had a special relationship. He was the first person she had met upon her arrival in Pandora after a couple weeks of survival. At first, she will admit, Gaige had a huge crush on the commando, but the more time they spent together, the more he became like the supportive male figure she needed. With her dad gone, Axton was the closest she had now for comfort and protection. They would always joke around and finding them asleep together wasn't uncommon before she decided to go off on her own. Even after he suggested she stay with the vault hunting group, she decided it was for the best to go off alone. The familiar scent of his cologne, dirt and gunpowder filled her lungs. Sometimes she wondered why she did leave the group.

Loud footsteps coming down the hall pulled the mechromancer from her thoughts and she turned around to find Krieg stomping his way into the kitchen. She didn't even realize he had come out the shower. "Morning, big guy!" Gaige smiled as she bounced towards the Psycho. He glanced at her then opened the fridge. The moment of eye contact she managed to have was cold and almost hurt. What was his deal? Shrugging it off as he woke up on the wrong side of the bed, Gaige turned her attention to Maya. "So, we have catching up to do!"

The next few hours were spent reminiscing in memories and catching up with current events. While Krieg, Gaige, and Maya shared the couch, Axton sat on the floor next to Gaige's legs. Even if no one did address it, there was tension between the two guys and it made the small girl worry a fight would break out. Laughs were shared, easing her nerves, as Maya explained how Axton accidentally set his pants on fire while they were recruiting Mordecai and Gaige shared the story of Krieg running from the psycho while rescuing Lilith. The early evening hours were beginning to creep around the corner, the sun starting to show the beginning orange hues as a sign of its setting. Hopping up from where she sat, Gaige stretched. "We should go get some drinks from Moxxi!" It would be a nice way to end the day. Friends catching up and a few drinks for more laughs.

Everyone agreed, even Krieg, getting up and stretching their relaxed muscles. Not that they were able to stay relaxed for too long. Sudden screaming and sounds of chaos came from outside the locked door. The vault hunters instinctively drew their guns, moving to one another. Krieg stood behind Gaige, towering over her with his buzzaxe; Axton took to her left, shotgun ready; Maya stood to her right, assault rifle pointed at the door.

"Please tell me you're all together." Roland's sudden voice made the group jump before they realized he was over all their echos.

"Yea, we're all together here at gaige's and Krieg's place." Maya assured him, watching as Krieg very cautiously made his way to the door. "What the hell is happening, Roland?" Her words were ended with an explosion that sounded much too close for comfort.

"Want me to let you in on a little secret?" Jack's voice interrupted any answers, the smirk he had practically dancing on his words. "Angel is working for me. Wonderful choice of 'sources.'" His laughter was cut off by Angel's voice, who sounded tired. "Lowering Sanctuary's shields, Jack. Phase shift complete."

"It was a trap." Lilith finally cut through, sounding distressed. "The power core wasn't just that. It was a disguise for much more. Jack used it to shut down our shields and attack us. The whole thing was just a set up and that bitch Angel is the one who led us into it. I knew we shouldn't have trusted her." Krieg had finally opened the door as the siren spoke, revealing absolute chaos. Shots were raining down from the sky, hitting the asphalt and leaving holes in their wake. People were running for cover and some were even just trying to leave. The unlucky few who were hit became nothing more than scorch marks on the remnants of asphalt. Gaige felt her stomach churn.

"What're we going to do? It's not like we can just shoot this thing with our guns. Do we just evacuate?" She walked up beside Krieg, shutting the door as the walls and windows shook. They had to hope one didn't find its way to their home.

"No, I have a really bad plan." Lilith's voice sounded breathless and almost like he was running. "Just need your help. Scooter, we need to get the city in the sky. Roland, I need eridium."

"We can't do that without killing at least- well everybody! It's not ready, Lillie!" Scooter was almost drowned out with the sound of shouts and explosions.

"You have your orders, Scooter. That's our last hope." Roland was serious.

"Fine. I need you guys to meet me in the center of town. We'll see what we can do." The mechanic resigned, sounds of movement behind him.

The vault hunters looked around at one another. In all honesty, none of them wanted to go out there. It was absolute chaos and they were sure, even with their shields, a hit from that would at the very least seriously injure. Axton was the first to step forward, pulling the door open. "We need to go. They need us." The windows shook again. Gaige looked over at Maya then back at Krieg.

"Let's do this." She strapped her gun into its holster, opting for running speed over having that in her hand. The four of them began running through the chaos, avoiding any blasts from Jack and any bodies that were charging opposite their direction. What was normally a leisurely walk was becoming a run for life. None of them knew what plan they had in mind, but anything right now was better than remaining sitting ducks. Axton lead the group into the center of town, Lilith standing by a giant cement pillar in the center of three, much smaller, pillars. Scooter was kneeling down by one of them, banging it with his wrench as he cursed to himself.

"Scooter, we're here. What do you need?" Maya panted softly as she ran to his side, Axton on her heels while Gaige and Krieg trailed ever so slightly behind. Scooter looked up, sweat and grease speckling his face. Resting the wrench on his knee, he sighed.

"If we cycle the ignition primers, it'll get us somewhere." Scooter had to shout and even then it was difficult to hear him. He smacked what they could assume to be be one of the ignition primers once more. "I've got this one, you need to get the other two!"

Before he could even finish speaking, the vault hunters were running towards the other two on the opposite sides of the circle. Gaige and Krieg took one, Maya and Axton the other. The redhead glanced over at the siren, who nodded, before they pressed the buttons at the same time. They whirred to life, the ground trembling. "All right, we're primed! Everybody hold on!" Scooter warned, the ground trembling further. Lilith, who had been by the large pillar, began to glow a light purple. She disappeared for a moment, the rings in the ground sinking down. Suddenly there was a loud explosion nearby, Gaige quickly looking up. The head quarters had been hit.

"Roland!" Before the others could react, she began to run towards the large building, Krieg at her heels.

"Son of a-" Roland sounded pained and like he was struggling. "I'm pinned! You need to come get this eridium for Lilith! Hurry!" Gaige was already a step ahead. She ran into the building, stumbling slightly as the ground shook once again. Sprinting up the stairs, she forced herself to breathe as calmly as she could. Slowing to a stop, she found Roland on the balcony, chunks of the destroyed cement over his legs. "I'll be okay, just get the eridium to her!" He was pushing the smaller chunks of cement off himself, small glowing purple chunks to his side. Gaige desperately wanted to help Roland, but she knew she couldn't. That would put everyone else at risk. Scooping up the rocks, she looked over the edge to see Krieg watching them from below.

"You only survived as long as you have because I wanted you to." Jack spoke calmly, his voice coming over all the vault hunters echoes. "Five years ago, Roland and his friends opened the vault, because Angel and I tricked them." Gaige didn't have time for this. Tuning out his voice, she glanced down once again.

"Coming down!" Taking a few steps back she ran and jumped off the edge. Krieg, who had been watching her, easily caught the petite girl with one arm before setting her down. She was much faster, reaching the red haired siren several moments before the Psycho did. Maya and Axton stood at her side as Gaige came up, handing off the eridium. Krieg caught up as Lilith began glowing an even greater purple, the light so bright that the center around her was white.

"I've never used this much before, so you might want to hold on!" Lilith warned as she placed her hands on the pillar. The group took several steps back, staying close to one another. On instinct, Gaige buried her hands into Axton's jacket, hoping for some sense of safety. The commando wrapped his arms around her, Maya resting her hands on the mechromancer's shoulder. Krieg stood close enough for his hand to brush lightly against her side, but he seemed to hold a steady glare at Axton. Then all at once everything went white, as if someone was shining a bright light into their eyes.

"Sorry guys, that was an accident. I'll see you on the other side, I promise. Hit it!" Lilith spoke before anything could be seen. When it finally began to dim down, everything came into sight. Gaige was on the ground, flat on her rear, Krieg a couple feet away. Standing up, she could see sanctuary off in the distance, the blasts still raining down from the sky. A large, purple light could be seen from the center of the town, slowly beginning to completely enclose the city. The buildings began to rise, part of the ground and all. Krieg came up behind Gaige, watching in awe as what was their home, was airborne.

The sharp sound of Jack's laughter shattered the moment. "That's the best you got? A flying city? What could you chumps POSSIBLY have that makes you think you have a chance against me?"

There was a silence.

"A siren." Roland spoke the two words in a steady, calm voice.

"Sup." A smirk danced on Lilith's words. Then all at once, the city phased away, leaving no trace of where it had been.

The blasts slowed to a stop and all exchange of words ended. It wasn't till then that Gaige realized they were missing Maya and Axton. Looking around, despite the open area they had been dropped in, the other two vault hunters weren't anywhere in sight. Looking over at Krieg, Gaige let out a soft sigh of relief when he seemed to be okay. "Come on big guy, we need to find the others then find Sanctuary." Staying close to Krieg's side, she grabbed her echo.

"Gaige! Where did you two go?!" Maya sounded relieved to hear from her.

"We were tossed right outside Sanctuary. We watched the whole thing, where did you two go?" Gaige looked around, making sure there weren't any threats. Her guns were holstered as she walked, Krieg carrying his shotgun. She was sure he could keep them safe for the time being.

"I'm not sure. I think being a siren might have messed with Lilith's powers, we were dropped further. We're somewhere in three horns, all we could see was the glow. What are we going to do?" In the background, Gaige could hear Axton say something, but before she could get an answer or even say anything else, Angel's face appeared on the screen. The redhead froze where she stood, Krieg coming up behind her to see what had made her stop.

"Look, I know you're angry at me right now, but we don't have a lot of time. I'll explain everything- just get to The Fridge- it's the only way to get to the highlands. I detect Lilith might have phased your city there." With that said, just as quickly as she had appeared, the screen went to the usual blue, Maya's name and picture on the top right corner.

"The Fridge?" Gaige repeated, furrowing her brows.

"I guess that's as good a start as any." Axton sounded much closer now.

"Why should we trust her? She led us into a trap, took our shields down, is working with Jack, and she's betrayed our friends before all this even happened. For all we know, this is another stupid trap." Maya sounded beyond irritated.

Gaige hesitated. She knew the blue haired siren was right. They had every reason to not trust Angel and no reason to trust her. Why would they now? "It's all we have, Maya…" Gaige slowly began to walk towards the exit that lead to Three Horns. "It's gonna be dark soon and none of us are fully armed, or prepared. All I have are my sniper rifle and assault rifle, no grenades and no extra ammo. We can't necessarily just wander around hoping to spot Sanctuary floating around somewhere."

The line went silent. It was all they had left. They were separated and under armed. Their new home was somewhere they had no clue as to where it was. They had no communication with their other friends. All they had was the word of someone that had betrayed them not even fifteen minutes ago.

"Fine. We'll meet outside The Fridge and camp there for the night. Once the sun is out, we'll go in." Maya was defeated. It could be just another trap, but it was better than nothing.

Putting her Echo back into its holder, Gaige looked up to find Krieg running ahead to the catch a ride in the nearby distance. She dragged her feet along the ground as she followed after him. This sucked. This royally sucked Skag balls. The Psycho drove up to her in an outrunner, the engine rumbling as he stopped to let her climb on. Gaige wanted to say something about the vehicle choice. Suggest that a tactical would probably be best, especially if they were going to be camping overnight, but she didn't care. Not right now. Climbing up into the gunner seat, she plopped down without a single complaint.

"You know, I just love the way you vault hunters just up and trusted Angel. Never occurred to you that she was working for me, did it?" Jack's voice interrupted the otherwise silent drive.

"Jack, shut the fuck up. You're getting on my last nerve and your voice makes me want to vomit." Gaige was over holding her tongue when it came to the Hyperion CEO. He already tried to kill them and destroy their new home, what else could he do?

"You know, you think you're tough and can take me on, but you're nothing. You and your little friends will all fail and there's nothing you can do to stop it. I did the same thing to the last four vault hunters, but I'll be honest here. Tricking you was way more hilarious." He was actually enjoying this. The sick, twisted fuck was finding enjoyment in what he did. It was disgusting. Gaige didn't respond to him this time, simply sitting in silence the remainder of the drive. "Hey, thanks for actually taking the bait though and taking the power core. It was really hard to concentrate on charging the Vault key with Roland's little buddies attack my eridium mines."

The drive wasn't too long, but it wasn't short either. It took about half an hour until they were approaching the entrance to The Fridge. After Jack's little 'thank you', their echos were as silent as could be. Angel came up at some point, reassuring them that they needed to get to the Fridge to reach the others. Not that Gaige paid much attention to her. Krieg seemed to run over any Skags that came their way, creating a path of slaughter behind them. Not that she minded any. Meant she could cool off before they met up with the others.

A loud honking suddenly came from behind them, causing Gaige to quickly whip around in the gunner seat, prepared to fire, but instead smiled. Maya and Axton were pulling up to their side in a tactical. At least they had one. Axton stood in the gunner seat. "Hey! We're almost there, but there's a bandit camp blocking the entrance. It would be best for us to take them out and block it in with our vehicles. That way no one can sneak up on us." The wind made it difficult to hear the commando clearly, but she could hear him well enough. She simply nodded and gave a thumbs up.

The camp was small and only had a handful of bandits. Saving ammo, the vault hunters drove up the small incline before unleashing a barrage of bullets from both vehicles until the area was cleared. While Axton and Gaige remained in the gunner seats, Krieg and Maya charged in to thoroughly make sure it was empty. Once they were sure everything was cleared out and no one was wandering around, the vault hunters finally relaxed for the night.

By the time they had a fire going and both vehicles plugging up the entrance to the camp, the sun was already nearly gone for the day. Maya produced some food from the back of their technical and the four sat around the fire, eating their portion. Gaige opted to sit next to Axton, her head resting on his shoulder. Taking off his jacket, he draped it over Gaige's shoulders. He was much larger than the small mechromancer, the jacket dwarfing her further. Not that she minded any. It was warm and reminded her of old times when the two were inseparable. Maybe she would stay with them after this was all said and done. No one spoke, only listened to the sounds of the fire and the occasional Rakk off in the distance. Though, for some reason Gaige could feel an unease and every time she glanced over at Krieg, he was watching her. Part of her wanted to ask if he was okay, but she decided to ask when they were alone.

"Why did you bring an outrunner?" Axton finally broke the silence, glancing at the two vehicles. Gaige looked down, pulling the jacket closer.

"Krieg brought it and I didn't think about telling him to get the tactical. I was still mad about the whole-," she waved her arms around in front of her. "-mess with Sanctuary and stupid Angel and Jack." The redhead's feathers began to ruffle once again as she thought about it. Maya looked up over the fire at the two vault hunters.

"We shouldn't have trusted her. How are we supposed to get home now? How do we even know Roland and Lilith and everyone else are safe? For all we know that phase killed them." The siren grabbed a handful of dirt, tossing it angrily at the fire.

"It happened and there's nothing we can do about it. We live and learn. All we can do, is hope Angel is helping us out and not betraying us again." Axton looked over at Maya. "Now we need a plan put together." As the commando spoke, Gaige stole another glance at Krieg. He had been staring at the fire, but after a moment, he looked up. Their eyes met and held until she finally looked away. He was furthest from the group, keeping to himself. Sitting a little ways from the fire, but close enough for its warmth to reach him. She wanted to get up and pull him closer, have him more included, but she didn't want to get him upset.

"So who's taking first watch?" Axton's voice pulled her back into the world. Looking up at him, she must've had a confused expression because he started laughing. "Listen this time, Gaige. It'll be best for us to take turns on watch. You and Krieg, me and Maya. The two not on watch can sleep in the technical." Gaige felt her stomach knot up.

"Wait, like share the space in there?" She pointed at the cab.

"Yea. There's two sleeping bags, two blankets and two pillows. They're not in the best shape, but they work. Halfway through the night, we can switch then as the sun starts to rise, second group will wake up, we get ready and head in." Axton always had a plan. It was like instinct to him from the military. Even if the others couldn't see any hope or way to make anything work, he did. Gaige admired that about him. She was always just charge in and get things done. It wasn't until Krieg that she really had to even start trying to keep things organized.

"We can take first watch." She finally spoke up. She wasn't trying to be a good person, or anything, but instead she was actually really nervous. Gaige had never shared such a close sleeping space with Krieg before and with his current behavior, she didn't know what to do. The longer she could put it off, the better.

After about another half hour, Gaige finally returned Axton's jacket and the vault hunters said their good nights. Krieg climbed up into the back of tactical, leaving the redhead alone by the fire. She remained where she sat, waiting until the movement and small arguments over who should move where stopped from inside the cab. When Gaige could assume the other two had fallen asleep, she stood up and joined Krieg in the back. Sitting with her knees pushed up to her chest, she was glad she had leggings on. Resting her chin on her knees, she glanced up at Krieg, who was staring off into the distance.

"Sooo…" She dragged out the word, hoping he would respond, but she knew he wouldn't. When there was nothing more then silence, she finally spoke. "At least this camping trip it's not all snowy. Tomorrow it will be. I mean, who names a place The Fridge?" She wasn't sure where she was going with all of this, or even where it was coming from, but she hoped to put the Psycho at ease. He seemed tense. The longer she sat there, the more she babbled on until she finally had no clue what she was saying anymore. "Ima just- uh shut up now." Hugging her knees, the mechromancer bit her bottom lip to help keep any other thoughts from babbling out.

They sat in silence for the next dragging hour, Gaige passing time with her echo as Krieg watched over the area. The pair were almost on opposite ends of the vehicle bed. Very slowly, Krieg scooted a bit towards Gaige as he tried his best to keep from making it obvious. Gaige, who was scrolling aimlessly along the ECHOnet, didn't pay the least bit of attention to him. Honestly, he could've probably stood up and sat beside her and she still wouldn't have noticed. Over the next half hour, the Psycho continue to scoot until his shoulder lightly brushed against her own. Looking up from the small device on her lap, she finally turned her attention to Krieg, who was looking up at the stars.

Shrugging gently, she let her head fall to rest comfortably on his large shoulder. The pair remained like that, passing the hours comfortably in the cool night. When the time to switch was right, Gaige stood up and stretched until something popped. Groaning in delight, she hopped down. Using her metal hand, she smacked it against the door. "Wakey, wakey you lazy bums!" She called to them. There was sudden movement and tired groaning, followed by the door flying open.

Axton, his normally messy sandy hair even messier then usual, yawned as he glared tiredly at the petite girl. "Could've woken us up a bit nicer than that." He grumbled, grabbing his boots. Pulling them on, he grabbed his jacket and slid out as a pair of slender legs shoved at his back.

"Hurry up." Maya sounded impatient, her boots already on. The two, still half asleep, vault hunters yawned and stretched. Rubbing his eyes, Axton 'accidentally' jabbed his elbow into her side. "Jerk.." She smacked her hand into his arm, though his jacket was too thick for him to feel much of anything.

Laughing, he quickly moved away from her next swing, which was aimed at his head. "It's all yours. I'm assuming it was an easy watch?"

Gaige stared inside the small cab, her stomach knotting up. Why hadn't she at least tried to go get another tactical? "Yea." Her voice came out high pitched and shaky, making her cheeks turn a light red. Quickly coughing to cover it up, she shrugged one shoulder as Krieg came down from his post. "Yea, nothing going on. It's easy to keep a good watch up here." A mental sigh of relief washed over her when her voice was normal this time.

The three vault hunters exchanged a few more words before Gaige was finally climbing into the vehicle. She kicked off her sneakers, resting them by the door before crawling towards the innermost sleeping bag. Both were still warm from its previous occupant, two blankets haphazardly tossed aside to allow them to get up. About five or so inches separated the warm makeshift beds with the cold bottom of the cab. Gaige could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Sure, she had shared closer spaces with others before (mostly Axton), but now it was with Krieg. Sitting on her knees on the sleeping bag, she glanced at the door, watching as the psycho climbed in after her. Yanking his boots off, he rested them next to her own shoes before pulling the door closed behind him.

He sat on his own sleeping bag, the space barely giving them room to move around without occasionally brushing against one another. The two vault hunters disarmed themselves, setting their guns aside, but within reach. Gaige began to unzip her vest, folding it up and setting it aside before she adjusted her loose shirt that hung just off her shoulders. Biting her bottom lip, she glanced over at Krieg as if to catch him doing something. Not that she was sure what she would catch him doing. He was removing the metal bracers on his forearms, setting them aside with his weapons before a hand moved up to his mask.

His mask. Krieg walked around shirtless 24/7, so she was used to it. His mask however, she had never seen him without. His movements stopped and his eye met her own. Was she staring? Gaige felt her face light up bright red. She was staring. "Sorry, dude. I was just kind of curious? I don't mean to be creepy." The redhead quickly turned away, reaching up the remove the metal clasps from her pigtails. She was sure what she said didn't help any, nor did it make her not want to look again.

Krieg sat motionless, the top strap undone, but the one around his head still clasped. He was tense and almost seemed nervous. Running her fingers through her short red hair, Gaige turned to face him in the small area. "If me being around you without your mask is making you nervous, don't be. We're in this together, to the very end and no matter what might be under there, nothing will change." She encouraged him, scooting a bit closer, just enough so her knees brushed his crossed legs. "Besides, there's no way sleeping in that could ever be comfortable."

Krieg looked at her once again before one of his large hands covered the mask, holding it against his face as he unbuckled the final strap. Yet, as the strap fell to hang on either side of the mask, he didn't move. Reaching up very slowly, Gaige gently rested her much smaller hands on his larger one. Both their hearts pounded and for the first time, Krieg was unsure about something. Gently, Gaige guided his hand down, the mask coming with it.

Two brown eyes met her own green ones, one of his eyes a shade lighter than the other, but one could only tell if they looked close enough. A perfectly sculpted nose was crooked, probably from a long since healed break. A sharp jawline was as sculpted as his muscles were, a pair of full, rosey lips pulling together his features. As she took in the sight of the unmasked psycho, she noticed several scars, some smaller and others a bit bigger, scattered over his face. Gaige knew she should've scooted away. She knew she should've said good night. Knew she should've said she was happy he trusted her enough to remove the mask. But she didn't.

Her body began to run on autopilot, her hands slowly reaching up to the newly exposed skin. Very gently, her hands cupped his cheeks, thumbs running along his weather roughened skin. As her thumbs passed over the scars, the skin was smooth, some smooth but bumpy. Krieg was tense under her touches and she knew she must've been one of the first, if not the first, person to touch him like this. Gentle and caring. Without thinking she leaned forward, hands cupping his cheeks, and pressed her lips into his own. It was only for a brief moment before she quickly pulled back, hands still on his face. It took a moment before she let her hands fall onto her lap and she started scooting away.

"I'm sorry. I-I shouldn't have-," her apology was cut short, a large arm wrapping around her waist and pulling her to lay down. An undignified shriek left her lips, her head finding Krieg's shoulder. She stay nestled into his side, trying to wrap her mind around what had just happened. The kiss couldn't have bothered him much since he now had an arm around her, but was it a mutual thing? Or was it just pity to try and help her feel better about messing up? Gaige wanted to ask, even if there wouldn't be a response, but the Psycho held her close and seemed content with how they were. With some adjustments to the two sleeping bags under them, the two were able to lay comfortably on top of them as Gaige fixed the blankets so that they were both covered. With her flesh arm draped over Krieg's large chest and his arm wrapped around her, holding her close, the two vault hunters soon fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.


End file.
